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Copy 1 

COLORADO STATE 

TEACHERS COLLEGE 

BULLETIN 

Series XVII AUGUST, 1917 Number 5 

or 

Self-Survey 

of 

The Sterling Public Schools 

District Number Twelve 

Logan County, Colorado 

Colorado State Teachers College 

Co-operating 



Published Monthly by State Teachers College, Greeley, Colo- 
rado. Entered as Second Class Matter at the Post Office at 
Greeley, Colorado, Under the Act of August 24, 1912. 



Jy p*'*'*i-'n*j»»<w»Sj "•"5f 



Co-operative Survey 

of the 

Sterling Public Schools 

District Number Twelve 

Logan County, Colorado 

1916-17 






9 # of D» 

FEB 13 1918 










INDEX 

Introduction Page 4 

Letter from President of the Board of Education Page 7 

By-Laws of the Board of Education , Page 8 

Buildings and Grounds Page 11 

Mental Measurements, Method, Results, Observations. .Page 18 

Health and Attendance Page 27 

The Standardized Test; Its Use in the School System. . .Page 37 

Arithmetic Page 39 

Reading Page 73 

Spelling. Page 73 

Writing Page '76 



INTRODUCTION 

In the fall of 1916 the following letter from Colorado 
State Teachers College was sent to Superintendents cf Schools 
in Colorado: 

"President Crabbe has appointed a Survey, Com- 
mittee consisting of Dr. J. D. Heilman of the Depart- 
ment of Psychology, Dean T. C. McCracken of the 
Department of Education, Mr. E. D. Randolph and Dean 
GL R. Miller of the Department of Sociology and Mr. 
W. B. Mooney, Director of Extension. 

"The purpose of this committee is to encourage the 
school survey movement on a co-operative basis. We - 
think that there are conditions, both good and bad, in 
our school systems which can and should be revealed by 
a survey, conducted by the administrative authorities 
in charge of each school system, aided by expert advice 
from outside the system. We believe the Teachers 
College is under obligation to furnish this expert 
assistance; therefore, the committee referred to above 
has been appointed and is ready to render whatever 
service it may along the lines indicated. 

"As a committee we are of the opinion that where- 
ever such work is to be undertaken there should be a 
preliminary study of the underlying principles of 
educational and mental tests, together with a study of 
social problems, especially as these are related to the 
educational problems. 

"This course may be given under the direction of 
the superintendent in co-operation with the college, 
and the result of the course should be that all those 
taking it will have a fair grasp of the underlying prin- 
ciples of the subjects treated and that some will become 
fairly proficient in the application of the tests to 
school children. 

"After this course has been completed or has been 
pursued to a certain point, we suggest that a survey of 
the school system be undertaken by means of certain 
teachers, who are sufficiently interested to acquire the 
necessary skill to give the mental and educational tests 
and by means of a committee to consist of the superin- 
tendent of schools, a member of the board of education, 
and a citizen. This committee should give its attention 
to the survey as a whole and should be responsible for 
the survey of the financial, social, and educational 
(other than those of the school) possibilities and activi- 
ties of the community. The Teachers College will 
undertake to give whatever advice may be necessary to 
insure a fair degree of accuracy, and thoroughness in 

4 



the effort to survey the school system in the proposed 
phases. 

"The findings of such a survey can be U3ed to 
improve the school system. The fact that the survey 
is made by the authorities in charge of the school will 
insure that the work will be done by those, who, by 
reason of their acquaintance with the system, have a 
perspective that we think is essential to a sensible and 
sympathetic approach to the problem. As an institu- 
tion, we want to play a minor part in the work, but 
we wish to make this part no less effective and con- 
tributory to the most effective and thoro-going 
research into the school system which time and circum- 
cumstances will permit. 

"If you are interested in this matter, please let us 
hear from you at an early date. 

"Sincerelv yours, 

"W.*B. mooney, 
"Chairman Survey Committee." 

Many superintendents responded favorably to this com- 
munication, and co-operative surveys were undertaken in as 
many school systems as time and available forces in the College 
would permit. 

At Sterling, Colorado, some work had already been done, 
and it was, in fact, that work which suggested the possibility 
of such a co-operative plan of survey to the authorities of 
Teachers College. Work was begun in the Sterling system 
early in the fall of 1916. 

Superintendent J. A. Sexson, his principals, teachers, and 
the board of education entered heartily into the work. The 
Committee from the College acted entirely in an advisory 
capacity. We believe the product is worth while, not perhaps 
as a contribution from the viewpoint of the expert in education, 
but as a means of exhibiting to the teaching force, the board 
of education and the citizens of Sterling some pertinent facts 
relative to their schools. All the work, including the publica- 
tion of this bulletin, has been done for the above stated purpose. 

Defects in the system have been pointed out constructively. 
If these defects appear in the educational work they are being 
remedied as far as possible by the teaching force; if in the 
administrative work, plans are being laid by the administrative 
officers to correct them. 

Until this survey was made the board of education did not 
have a set of written by-laws by which to guide their actions. 
This is not an uncommon condition in cities the size of Sterling. 
Anyone familiar with the problems of school administration 
will recognize that the by-laws adopted by the Sterling board 
are in harmony with the best theory and practice of modern 
school administration. 



It should be said that all who have worked on this survey 
do not agree with some of the ideas advanced. Suggestions and 
constructive criticisms will be gratefully, received by the school 
authorities of Sterling and of Teachers College. 

For the information of those outside of Sterling, into whose 
hands this bulletin may come, a few explanations are necessary. 

Sterling is a city of about 7,000 inhabitants, located in 
Logan County, on the Union Pacific and Burlington Kailroads, 
150 miles northeast of Denver. It is supported by a very produc- 
tive agricultural area some of which is under irrigation, though 
there are many excellent "dry" farms in this section. The town 
has had a very rapid growth. Its citizens have come from all 
parts of the United States, but most of them from the Middle 
West. Sugar beets are cultivated and the Great Western 
Sugar Company has a sugar factory here. The foreign popula- 
tion is quite largely German and Slav, engaged in the beet 
fields. These people present many knotty problems to the 
school authorities. 

About 25 years ago a County High School was organized 
at Sterling. This high school was designated as the Industrial 
Arts High School, and is open to all the children of Logan 
County who have finished the eighth grade. The Superin- 
tendent of the Sterling Public Schools is also Principal of this 
County High School. This survey does not include a study of 
the high school, but is confined to a study of the grade schools 
of the City of Sterling, or School District No. 12, Logan County. 

All who are connected in any way with the Public Schools 
of Sterling are entitled to credit for the earnest efforts they 
have made to set forth the facts as they are, and for the extra 
work required of them, which was by no means small, to get 
the material into usable condition. Special mention should be 
made, however, of the work of Mrs. Edith G. Painter, Special 
Teacher, who gave most of the mental tests and many of the 
educational tests and assisted in their tabulation; and Mrs. 
Maude Miller Jackson, President of the Board of Education, 
who formulated the by-laws for the government of the board 
of education. All the work was supervised and much of it done 
by Superintendent Sexson. 

Doubtless those who read this report will have the impres- 
sion that the findings lack conclusiveness and possibly definite- 
ness. It must be understood that the work is not finished and 
perhaps never will be. All who are connected with the system 
are trying to keep an open-minded attitude toward all the 
activities of the school, neither condemning nor approving, but 
studying the results of these activities by the most scientific 
methods available. 

W. B. M. 



TO THE PEOPLE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 12, 

STERLING, COLORADO. 
GREETING: 

There has never been a time when the education of our 
boys and girls meant more than it means today. They must 
be trained to take the places of the skilled men who have been 
called to arms in defense of Democracy. 

Our schools have attempted in many different ways to 
place before the public evidences of the work being done in the 
schools; these, in some instances, have been the displaying of 
results which have been splendid as far as they have gone, but 
there still seems to be wanting a closer touch between the 
home and the school, coming from the lack of knowing each 
other intimately. 

The Board of Education publish this survey in the hope 
that parents and others reading it will come to be more accu- 
rately informed about our schools, the work and standing, and 
will, for this reason, come to be more interested in them. The 
Board desires to show also that results obtained here in Sterling 
compare favorably, with results obtained in other school 
systems. 

The constant request is being made again for patrons and 
parents to visit the schools. This is impossible in many cases 
as business-hours and home duties often conflict with school- 
hours, but we do urge an earnest effort at all times to come in 
closer touch with the teachers of your children. 

Every one, beyond a doubt, is striving to do the very best 
he or she can do; but the situation is like unto an artist who 
paints for six years on a canvas trying to bring out her hopes 
and deals, and at the end of the six years turns the canvas 
over to the teacher without a word of explanation, leaving her 
to paint for a year, only to pass it on again to another. So it 
is with our children; and unless we co-operate until the picture 
is finished, need we wonder at the result? 

The schools are not ideal; no one claims that they are, but 
every one who is vitally interested is working toward the ideal. 
We all want our children to be men and women fully equipped 
to live this life to its fullest and best. You are cordially invited 
to participate to the fullest possible extent in the work of the 
schools with your child. Meet the teacher, principal, and the 
superintendent, and you will find a ready willingness to adjust 
everything to the best interests of your child. 

Your Board of Education are giving their time freely and 
loyally to promote the best interests of the schools, and if you 
wish your children to receive the greatest good, lend the 
heartiest co-operation in your power. 

We believe that size has nothing to do with quality; hence 
we have chosen the slogan, "The best schools in Colorado for 

7 



Sterling," and intend that everything possible shall be done to 
attain this end. 

Respectfully, 

MAUDE MILLER JACKSON, 
President Board of Education. 

BY-LAWS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, SCHOOL 

DISTRICT NUMBER TWELVE, LOGAN 

COUNTY, COLORADO. 

ARTICLE I. 
Declaration of Principles. 

Section 1. The object of these by-laws is to set forth in a 
connected and concise way the plan of organization and admin- 
istration which the Board of Education of School District No. 
12, Logan County, Colorado, has found to form a successful 
operating basis for a school system in a district of the first 
class organized under the Colorado Statutes. 

The idea is to make the plan strong and binding enough to 
prevent any retrogression, to make a firm foundation on which 
to build; at the same time to have the organization flexible 
enough to permit of all possible progress in the education of 
our youth. 

Section 2. Every child is entitled to the best education 
which can be provided. 

The best possible can only be obtained when the organiza- 
tion and management is such that the most efficient results 
can be obtained. 

Section 3. In the first class districts citizens are elected 
by the people to be their representatives. 

To see that the best possible results are received in return 
for the money expended, the Board members should keep them- 
selves so informed that they will be able to pass intelligently 
on all matters delegated to them by virtue of their position and 
by the Colorado School Law. 

Section 4. Schools exist in no sense to afford patronage 
for anyone. No one is entitled by right to any position in the 
school system except on the basis of being the best prepared 
of the available candidates. 

ARTICLE II. 

Organization of the Board of Education. 
Section 1. As prescribed by Colorado School Law, the 
Board shall meet within twenty days after the annual school 
election and perfect an organization. A president, secretary 
and treasurer shall be chosen by the Board from their own 
membership to act in their respective capacities for a term of 
two years. A good officer is better kept, as frequent changes 
tend towards retrogression; however, a too lengthy continu- 
ance in any office is unadvisable. 

8 



Section 2. The Board shall transact all business possible 
at the regular meetings. Emergency cases shall be cared for 
by members of the Board who are designated chairmen of the 
different committees. The Board shall hold regular monthly 
meetings on the first Monday following the third of each 
calendar month. Special meetings may be called by, the Presi- 
dent. 

Section 3. The Board meets distinctively as a business 
board and is authoritative only when in session. Its prime pur- 
pose is to serve the people and, after a conscientious selection 
of an expert executive, should make every effort towards cen- 
tralizing in this executive complete authority and responsibility 
in the educational functions of the system. 

Section 4. The duties of the Board are legislative, inspec- 
torial, and executive. The executive functions are delegated 
to the Superintendent as the chief executive of the Board. The 
duties, inspectorial and advisory, shall be exercised to such an 
extent as to familiarize each member with the work which is 
being done. They shall be aided by specific reports from those 
in charge. Such reports shall pertain to the general organiza- 
tion of the school, to the achievement and rating of teachers, 
to the progress of pupils, to the finances of the district, to the 
condition of the buildings and school equipment, and to the 
plans of the Superintendent and his administration. 

Section 5. The Board will provide for an Examining Com- 
mittee who shall have the power to examine applicants for 
certificates and recommend persons to the Board for certifi- 
cation. 

Section 6. The Board will retain all legislative powers 
delegated to it under the Colorado School Law. 

Section 7. The Board is divided into the following com- 
mittees: Supervision, Teachers and Text-ibooks, Health and 
Sanitation, Supply and Finance, Building. 

Section 8. The duties of the Supervision Committee are 
to keep in close touch with the administrative force in order 
to be thoroughly cognizant of the work being done, and to 
become acquainted with the future plans of the administration. 

Section 9. The duties of the Teachers and Text-books 
Committee are to familiarize itself with the book supply, the 
number and condition of same; and to be thoroughly familiar 
with the work done by individual teachers, their relations to the 
community, etc. 

Section 10. The Health and Sanitation Committee is to 
co-operate with the health supervisor, and be directly respon- 
sible for sanitary conditions, the supervision of janitors, and 
health certification of teachers. 

Section 11. The Supply and Finance Committee is to 
recommend to the Board the best ways and means of pur- 
chasing supplies, to authorize incidental purchases, and to 

9 



present an annual budget showing income, and necessary 
expenditures to the Board. 

Section 12. The Building Committee shall have charge of 
the buildings and grounds and make recommendations concern- 
ing these to the board. 

Section 13. At the regular monthly meeting in June the 
Board shall approve and adopt a school calendar for the ensuing 
year. It should also inspect and pass upon the requisitions 
made for school supplies and other expenditures. All purchas- 
ing shall be under the direct approval of the Board. At the 
regular monthly meeting in March the Board shall employ the 
teachers for the ensuing year. 

ARTICLE III. 

Superintendent, Powers and Duties. 

Section 1. The Superintendent shall be a member of the 
Board without a vote. He shall be the executive to carry out 
the legislation of the Board and shall be responsible to the 
Board. He shall be present at all meetings of the Board and 
take a free and active part in all discussion pertaining to school 
problems. In all educational matters he will be considered as 
prime advisor. He shall have the initiative in all malters relat- 
ing to the appointment, assignment, transfer and promotion of 
the teaching corps. Teachers are directly responsible to the 
Superintendent. He shall have supervisory oversight of 
janitors. He should keep in close touch and be well informed 
about the financial status of the district. He should have com- 
plete charge of records, reports, etc. 

Section 2. The Superintendent shall be an ex-officio 
member of all committees of the Board of Education. 

Section 3. The teachers shall be employed only as nomi- 
nated by the Superintendent. 

Section 4. The Superintendent shall not present the name 
of anyone who has not the following qualifications: 

High School graduate, two years of higher education, ten 
college hours of which must be in professional work or practice 
teaching. This practice teaching will be accepted in lieu of 
experience when obtained in institutions requiring bona-fide 
practice teaching. 

Section 5. The Board still reserves the right to reject any 
and all candidates, without, however, making any substitution 
of its own. 

Section 6. A list of eligible teachers bearing the endorse- 
ment of the Superintendent and approval of the Board shall be 
placed on file and during the year the Superintendent shall, 
without further action by the Board, draw upon such list to 
fill vacancies occuring during the school year. 

Section 7. If any member of the teaching corps wishes to 
become a candidate for the office of County Superintendent of 

10 



Schools this Board will grant said teacher a leave of absence 
from September to December, inclusive. 

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS 

The Survey Committee of Teachers College prepared a list 
of items, information upon which, it believed, would be signifi- 
cant to any school system that is making a study of itself. 
These items were sent to the Superintendents concerned and 
were criticised and modified by them. The result was a list of 
items which appear in this study in black faced type. Each 
building is studied separately and the facts are given as they 
were found by the local committee, which made the study. 

COLORADO STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE 
SURVEY BLANK NO. 2. 

1. SCHOOL DISTRICT COUNTY STATE 

No. 12 Logan Colorado 

2. NAME OF BUILDING. 

Lincoln. 

3. DATE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

4. MATERIAL USED. 

Floors and staircases, wood, brick; 
Basement, cement; roof, wood. 

5. NUMBER OF STORIES. 

Three and basement. 
6. COST OR APPROXIMATE COST. 
$50,000. 

7. METHOD OF HEATINGl 

Low pressure steam. 

8. METHOD OF VENTILATING. 

Few air ducts for indirect system. No fans. 
Windows, doors and transoms. 

9. LOCATION OF HEATING PLANT. 

In basement, directly in front of main entrance and directly 
under main corridor. 

10. NUMBER AND LOCATION OF FIRE ESCAPES. 

None. Building has inside stairways at each end and in 
middle. 

11. ARE THERE ANY ROOMS NOT PROPERLY PROVIDED WITH 
EXITS IN CASE OF PANIC FROM FIRE OR OTHER CAUSES? 

Yes. Basement room's exit would have to be made through 
windows too high for small children to climb out. Two 
rooms in new addition might be cut off by a fire at north 
end of building. Auditorium is fire trap of worst possible 
kind. It is located on third floor high above ground with 
empty rooms, unfinished, wood lined, and dry as tinder on 
either side. The one exit is a simple staircase directly over 
furnace room entrance and so located as to act as a direct 
flue for flames, should fire start. Entrance is also part of 
opening leading from basement to tower above building, 
making conditions doubly bad. Auditorium infrequently 
used. Third story rooms should be finished and extra exits 
provided. 

12. LABORATORIES, SIZE, LOCATION, EQUIPMENT, LIGHT AND 
VENTILATION. 

None. 

11 



13. THE GYMNASIUM, SIZE, LOCATION, EQUIPMENT, LIGHT 
AND VENTILATION. 

None. 

14. THE LIBRARY, SIZE, LOCATION, EQUIPMENT, LIGHT AND 
VENTILATION. 

No library. 

15. WHAT CLASSES IF ANY MEET IN BASEMENT ROOMS? 

Three classes regularly consisting of German children who 
spend the entire day in these basement rooms, a special class 
backward children, and all manual training classes. 

16. SANITARY CONDITION OF THESE ROOMS (UNDER THIS 
THE FACTS RELATIVE TO HEAT, LIGHT, VENTILATION, 
DAMPNESS, ETC., OF THESE ROOMS SHOULD BE GIVEN). 

Heating is poor, radiation overhead, ceilings low. Windows 
high from floor, light bad and insufficient. Ventilation bad. 
Air must be circulated, if at all, by using electric fans. Walls 
of rooms damp, muddy and unsightly. Supporting posts, 
steam pipes, ceiling radiators and low ceilings give depress- 
ing effect. 

17. NUMBER OF CHILDREN ACCOMMODATED IN THE 
BUILDING: 

Boys 295 

Girls 303 

Total •. 598 

18. TABLE SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF CHILDREN IN THE 
GRADES, NUMBER OF TEACHERS AND NUMBER OF 
CHILDREN PER TEACHER. 

Number Number Number of chil- 

Grades. of children. of teachers, dren per teacher. 



1 148 3 49 

2 116 3 49 

3 110 3 36 

4 94 2 47 

5 65 1V 2 43 

6 66 iy 2 44 

The standard is one teacher for each thirty pupils. 

19. HOW MANY ADJUSTABLE DESKS ARE USED IN THE 
BUILDING? INDICATE BY GRADES. 

Grade Six 43 

Grade Five 45 

Grade Four 42 

Grade Four 48 

Grade Three 

Grade Two 40 

Grade Two 36 

The standard is an adjustable desk for each child. 

20. NUMBER OF SEATS IN GIRLS' TOILET. 

Sixteen. Ratio of seats to girls, 1 to 14. 

21. NUMBER OF SEATS IN BOYS' TOILET. 

Fourteen. Ratio of seats to boys, 1 to 17. 

22. FEET OF URINALS IN BOYS' TOILET. 

Nineteen. Number of feet urinals to each boy, 1 to 15. 
The standards are: 

One seat to each 15 girls. 

One seat to each 25 boys. 

One foot of urinals to each 10 boys. 

12 



23. DETAILS OF CLASS ROOMS. 







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1 to 5 


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12x29x28 


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12x32x2714 


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12x25x12 


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1 to 15 








4 Rooms (2 toilets — 1 


recitation room — 1 board 


room) 






Basement Rooms. 






4 


8-4x32-8x27-8 


29 


1 to 14 


3 2/3 ft. 


8-4: 5-4 


3 


8-4x28x27 y 2 


35 


1 to 12 


3 ft. 


8-4: 5-4 


2 


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22 


1 to 17 


11 ft. 


8-4: 5-4 


1 


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22 


1 to 17 


11 ft. 


8-4: 5-4 




8-4x32x37% 


32 


1 to 12 


3 ft. 


8-4: 5-4 



The standards are: 

(a) Class rooms should be approximately 22x29x12'/^. 

(b) There should be at least 15 square feet of fkoori 
space for each child enrolled. 

(c) The ratio of glass surface to floor surface should be 
at least 1 to "6. 

(d) The distance between windows should be but a few 
inches. 

(e) The distance from the floor to top of window should 
be one-half the width of the room. 

Three feet six inches is a good height for windows 
measured from floor to bottom of window. 
24. TOILET ROOMS. 

(a) HEATING. 
Steam radiators. 

(b) LIGHTING. 

Upstairs toilets are naturally lighted by east windows. 
Glass surface ratio to floor space 1-15. 
Basement toilets without natural lighting of any kind. 
Electricity used entirely. 

(c) VENTILATION. 

Upstairs toilets ventilated by windows, tendency for 
air to circulate from window through toilet into main 
halls. Odors clearly discernible on days of easterly 
winds. Air shafts badly needed, and may be inex- 
pensively installed. 

13 



(d) BASEMENT TOILETS. 

Provided with small air shafts leading up three stories, 
but as no heat is provided these shafts do not operate 
at all as intended and very often act as air inlets forcing 
odor from toilets into main corridors. 
The entrances to these toilets are directly off from main 
entrances to building and as they may not be closed 
there is a serious lack of privacy. These entrances also 
provide unobstructed circulation of air from these toilets 
into main corridors with bad effects. The use of toilets 
should be discontinued and the space used as corridors. 
The basement toilets, one for boys and one for girls 
were installed when the original building was built and 
at that time had outside ventilation and sunlight. Addi- 
tions have since been built on and these toilets are now 
in wells in bottom of the building without natural light, 
ventilation, or sunlight. These toilets are a menace to 
health and should be closed. The only possible outlets 
for them are into main corridors and the odor is clearly 
discernible at all times, regardless of how much atten- 
tion the janitor gives to cleanliness. Owing to inade- 
quate water pressure, a condition that has developed 
since those toilet rooms were installed, the water avail- 
able for these toilets is inadequate and conditions are 
becoming almost intolerable. A special installation of 
air pressure with tank and motor or a "step up" appar- 
atus on the present system is now absolutely necessary 
to tolerable sanitary conditions. 

25. PLAY GROUND. 

(a) SIZE. 

Unrestricted play area 406 ft. by 207 ft. or 104 sq. ft. per 
pupil. Restricted play ground, lawn 406-210 or 106 sq. 
ft. per pupil. 
The standard is 100 sq. ft. per child, 200 sq. ft. is better. 

(b) LOCATION. 

About building, ideally located and ample. 

(c) EQUIPMENT. 

Meagre consisting of one slide donated by citizens. 
Beautiful lawn, trees and shrubs are attractive features. 
The standard is enough apparatus to keep all at play 
during the play period. 

26. MUSEUMS (Collections made for the purpose of making In- 
structions meaningful). 

None; much needed. 

COLORADO STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE 
SURVEY BLANK NO. 2. 

1. SCHOOL DISTRICT COUNTY STATE 

No. 12 Logan Colorado 

2. NAME OF BUILDING. 

Franklin. 

3. DATE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

About 1900. 

4. MATERIAL USED. 

Brick; floors and staircases wood; roof wood. 

5. NUMBER OF STORIES. 

Two, and basement. 

6. COST OR APPROXIMATE COST. 

$20,000. 

7. METHOD OF HEATING. 

Low pressure steam. 

14 



8. METHOD OF VENTILATING. 

Windows, doors and transoms, few air ducts but not in work- 
ing order. 

9. LOCATION OF HEATING PLANT. 

In small attached building west of main building. 

10. NUMBER AND LOCATION OF FIRE ESCAPES. 

None. Building has inside stairways at each end. 

11. ARE THERE ANY ROOMS NOT PROPERLY PROVIDED WITH 
EXITS IN CASE OF PANIC FROM FIRE OR OTHER CAUSES? 

12. LABORATORIES: SIZE, LOCATION, EQUIPMENT, LIGHT 
AND VENTILATION. 

None. 

13. THE GYMNASIUM SIZE, LOCATION, EQUIPMENT, LIGHT 
AND VENTILATION. 

None. 

14. THE LIBRARY, SIZE, LOCATION, EQUIPMENT, LIGHT AND 
VENTILATION. 

None. 

15. WHAT CLASSES IF ANY MEET IN BASEMENT ROOMS? 

16. SANITARY CONDITION OF THESE ROOMS (UNDER THIS 
THE FACTS RELATIVE TO HEAT, LIGHT, VENTILATION, 
DAMPNESS, ETC., OF THESE ROOMS SHOULD BE GIVEN). 

17. NUMBER OF CHILDREN ACCOMMODATED IN THE BUILD- 
ING. 

(a) Boys 151 

(b) Girls 163 

(c) Total 314 

18. TABLE SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF CHILDREN IN THE 
GRADES, NUMBER OF TEACHERS AND NUMBER OF CHIL- 
DREN PER TEACHER. 

Number Number Number of chil- 

Grades. of children, of teachers. dren per teacher. 

2 6 7 2 38 

2 53 2 26 

3 55 2 27 

4 52 1 52 

5 45 1 45 

6 42 1 42 

(See Lincoln Building for standards). 

19. HOW MANY ADJUSTABLE DESKS ARE IN USE IN THE 
BUILDING? INDICATE BY GRADES. 

Grade Six 

Grade Five 

Grade Four 

Grade Three 

Grade Two 

Grade One 7 

20. NUMBER OF SEATS IN GIRLS' TOILET. 

Fourteen. Ratio of seats to number girlsj 1-12.5. 

21. NUMBER OF SEATS IN BOYS' TOILET. 

Twelve. Ratio of seats to number boys, 1-13. 

22. FEET OF URINALS IN BOYS' TOILET. 

Number feet of urinals for each of 15 boys, .952 ft. 

23. DETAILS OF CLASS ROOMS. 

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23.4 


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11-6: 3-6 


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22.5 


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11-6: 3-6 


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11-6: 3-6 


III 


12-34-23 


17.3 


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11-6: 3-10 


IV 


12-34-23 


15.4 


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17.6 


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11-6: 3-10 


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12-34-23 


18.3 


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11-6: 3-10 



24.— TOILET ROOMS. 

(a) HEATING. 

Overhead radiation, not sufficiently supported — 
dangerous. 

(b) LIGHTING. 

Electric lights and frosted windows. 

(c) VENTILATION. 
Windows. 

25. PLAY GROUNDS. 

(a) SIZE. 

Unrestricted 200x275, 143.3 sq. ft. per child. 
Restricted lawn 200x275, 143 sq. ft. per child. 

(b) LOCATION. 
Back of building. 

(c) EQUIPMENT. 

None. Old equipment worn out and use discontinued. 

26. MUSEUMS (Collection made for the purpose of making instruc- 
tions meaningful). 

Practically nothing. 

COMMENTS 

"The modern school," says Terman, "is in certain respects 
vastly different from the school of our fathers and grand- 
fathers. When the curriculum embraced little more than the 
'three R's,' the chief requirement of a school buildiug was to 
furnish shelter and seats in which the children might study 
books. But people are demanding more and more of their 
schools. The curriculum has broken away from its old moor- 
ings, never to return. Shop work, domestic science and house- 
hold arts, drawing, play and physical training are no longer 
fads, but indispensable phases of school instruction. 

"These demands, coupled with the broader use of the school 
plant for social center activities, make necessary a new type of 
school building; one having in addition to classrooms at least 
the following appointments: A shop, one or more rooms for 

16 



domestic science and household arts, an assembly room with 
stage, a library, a nurse's room, a teachers' rest room, a shel- 
tered play room or gymnasium, a store room, and a shower 
bath or swimming pool. In modern school planning the regular 
classrooms often represent considerably less than half the cost 
of the entire building. 

"Schools to be erected in the future should in all cases 
include a good-sized auditorium on the first floor, a library, a 
rest room for children and teachers, a store room conveniently 
located, a nurse's room, an art room, an open-air basement 
play room or gymnasium with nearby showers and dressing 
booths. The assembly room, the library, the gymnasium, the 
showers, and if possible, also one club room, should be located 
near together and should be so arranged that they could be 
opened for community use while the rest of the building 
remained closed. 

"With proper economy in the planning of buildings, it is 
possible to secure these advantages without greatly increasing 
the cost of construction." 

A glance at the facts revealed in the above findings suffice 
to show that Sterling's grade school buildings lack many of 
the appointments which are now recognized as essential features 
of a modern school plant or building. It is hoped that when 
occasion comes to replace or add to the present buildings, due 
consideration will be given to modern needs and demands. 

Sufficient comment has already been made on most of the 
defects this study reveals concerning Sterling's school buildings 
and grounds. However, there are a few items which may well 
receive further attention. 

1. The danger to which children are exposed in case of a 
serious fire at the Lincoln building, especially if any consider- 
able number were caught in the assembly room, is a matter 
which should be corrected at once. Either, children should not 
be taken up there, except in very small numbers, or safer means 
of exit should be furnished. 

2. The basement rooms at the Lincoln building should be 
abandoned as classrooms. They fall too far below the standards 
in light and ventilation to justify their use as classrooms even 
for only a part of the year. It would pay the community to 
rent rooms or construct rooms of the portable school type 
rather than to use these rooms as classrooms. 

3. The ratio of pupils to teachers is considerably above 
what it should be to produce the best results. No teacher 
should have more than 30 pupils enrolled in her room at any 
one time. 

4. The Sterling grade school rooms are generally too large 
for economy in heating and for the best arrangement of win- 
dows for lighting. The most approved size of a school room 
is one that is 22 ft. by 29 ft. by 12y 2 ft. This size of room also 

1. Denver Survey. 

17 



tends to prevent the giving of too many pupils to one teacher. 
It may, appear to be economy to give teachers large classes, but 
there is no more wasteful practice in school administration 
than this. Upon this point all who have given this matter 
even cursory thought are agreed. 

5. Outside of the bad lighting conditions in the basement 
rooms the school rooms of Sterling are fairly well lighted. The 
desks in some of the rooms at the Franklin building should be 
changed so that the light will strike the sides rather than the 
backs of pupils. 

6. The defects pointed out with reference to the toilet 
rooms in both the Lincoln and Franklin buildings should receive 
early attention. 

7. Approximately half the children at the Lincoln build- 
ing are occupying desks that cannot be adjusted, and there are 
only seven adjustable desks in the Franklin building. An old 
fashioned city superintendent was asked once if his schools 
were equipped with adjustable desks. "No," he said, exhibit- 
ing some pride, "the children of this school are themselves 
adjustable." He spoke truer than he knew. Children are 
adjustable and because of this fact we have the many skeletal 
deformities, many of which are directly traceable to this ten- 
dency of the growing child to adjust himself to the non-adjust- 
able school desk. 

8. Sterling is to be congratulated on her ample and 
beautiful recreation grounds for children. Thje play-ground 
equipment, however, is entirely too meager. 

MENTAL MEASUREMENTS, METHOD, RESULTS 

OBSERVATIONS 

By Edith G. Painter, Special Teacher 

In December, 1916, the Board of Education, School District 
No. 12, Sterling, Colorado, employed Mrs. Edith G. Painter to 
conduct a series of investigations to determine the status of 
certain problems of school administration which had from time 
to time been noted by teachers, principals, and superintendent. 
The first of these problems had been designated as the prob- 
lem of determining the efficiency of the teaching in the various 
grades and rooms of the school system. The second problem 
was that connected with the accelerated pupils, the backward 
pupils, the retarded pupils, and those pupils who for any reason 
seemed not to be receiving satisfactory returns from their 
school experience. It was decided that the work of investiga- 
tion concerning the two problems should be carried on at the 
same time, but that the problem of teaching efficiency should 
receive more attention during the first year, while the greater 
part of the time of the second year would be given over to the 
problem of the special pupil. A discussion of the results of the 
investigation as concerned the special child problem is shown 

18 



in the accompanying tabulation, which is self-explanatory. For 
the purpose of the discussion the reader will please note that 
the 121 selected children mentioned in the tabulation on page 27 
are the children tested during the first six months or first year 
of the investigation and were children tested upon the suggestion 
of the teachers, because in their opinion these pupils were not 
benefiting properly by their school experience. The 258 
unselected children mentioned in the tabulation represent the 
children of the first three grades in the Sterling Public Schools 
and were the children tested during the second year of the 
investigation, at which time all children in the grade were 
tested irrespective of their school progress. 

During the first year the Kuhlman Revision of the Binet 
test was used, and the object in the minds of the investigator 
and the teachers during this period was to find out, if possible, 
what might be done to make the school experience of the child 
more profitable. The observations based upon this first year 
of work were the following: 

First — The Sterling Schools as a whole were poorly graded; 
many bright children were retained in grades from one to two 
years below the grade in which the child properly belonged. 

Second — There was a disposition on the part of the class- 
room teacher to retain backward children in a grade year after 
year upon the theory that all children must master the work 
of a particular grade equally well and that children should not 
be promoted irrespective of age or time spent in the grade until 
a preconceived degree of mastery of subject matter had been 
achieved. 

Third — That teachers were not taking into account the 
mental ability and strength of pupils in the assignment of tasks 
and that, as a result, many backward and subnormal children 
were being subjected to disciplinary procedure in order to force 
their response to the subject matter of the course of study. 

Fourth — It was found that there were in the Sterling 
Public Schools 13 children who had been classified and graded 
as normal children and who had been expected to make normal 
progress in the schools who were, as a matter of fact, so feeble- 
minded as to be classified as imbeciles, according to the Terman 
classification; that there were in addition to these, 13 children 
who were dull to such an extent as to make normal progress in 
the schools impossible. This group, although they would be 
able to complete the elementary school, would necessarily 
require a much longer period of time than would average 
children. 

Fifth — It was determined that a large number of these 
backward and feeble-minded children had serious physical 
defects, some of which were in urgent need of expert medical 
attention. 

Sixth — It was farther determined that amonj* this group 

19 



of seriously retarded children were three who were, morally 
defective to such an extent as to be little short of menaces to 
the welfare of the pupils with whom they associated. 

THE TEACHERS AND THE TESTS 

The teacher employed to make this investigation was a 
special teacher, and before the work was begun a teachers 
meeting was called at which time a complete detailed explana- 
tion was made to the entire group relative to the proposed 
investigation. The teachers were urged to familiarize them- 
selves with the tests, with the method of administering the 
tests, and with the general principles underlying the interpreta- 
tion of the results of the use of the tests. Their co-operation 
was urged by the special teacher. Every possible effort was 
made to keep the classroom teachers in close consultation with 
the special teacher in every detail and phase of the investi- 
gation. 

The noticeable reaction of the teachers was about as 
follows: Teachers were quick to admit that children were 
widely variant in ability. They were, however, slow to realize 
that many bright children in their classes were comparatively 
idle, due to the fact that the work was far too simple for the 
stage of development in which these children were. They were 
also slow to recognize the fact that it was bad policy to hold 
back 97 per cent of the pupils in the room while the teacher 
devoted a disproportionate amount of her time to a backward 
3 per cent. Most of the teachers were so much concerned about 
absolute justice for the 3 per cent that they were overlooking 
the rights of the 97 per cent. Teachers were, for the most part, 
unconscious of a distinction existing between a child of nine 
years in a grade beside a child of eleven years of age, both 
children doing, in the opinion of the teacher, about the same 
grade of work. The teachers were disposed to regard the eleven- 
year-old child the same type and kind of child as the nine-year- 
old, making no additional requirements of the eleven-year-old 
child in view of his two additional years of life and experience. 
In other words, they were absolutely satisfied if the child was 
doing the work in the grade even though it was evident upon 
the face of it that he should, because of his age, be at least one 
or two grades in advance; thus acknowledging that his addi- 
tional two years of age had profited him little. Teachers were 
not aware that some children were idle and were forming 
habits of inattention because there was nothing for them to do, 
since they had already easily done much more than the assigned 
task — more of it than 90 per cent of the children in the room 
would ever accomplish. Beside these children was another 
group of children who were idle and were forming habits of 
inattention because there was nothing in the assigned task 
which they were able to do, and they were consequently idle in 

20 



the face of an assigned task far beyond their ability to perform. 
In the case of those teachers who vaguely realized these condi- 
tions there were few who attributed these conditions to a dif- 
ference in intelligence. Most of them were disposed to explain 
these conditions in terms of laziness, listlessness, inattention, 
nervousness, mischievousness, etc. 

The response of the teachers to the results as determined 
by application of the tests was at first very skeptical. Much 
time was spent in thoughtless criticism and in more or less ignor- 
ant comment upon the whole investigation. Gradually, how- 
ever, as more time and attention was given to the work of the 
special teacher and as the teachers had time through their 
teachers' meetings and readings to learn of the character of 
the tests and their educational significance, this attitude passed 
over into a most sympathetic co-operation between the special 
teacher and the regular classroom teacher. Consultation 
between the special teacher and the classroom teacher became 
common relative to the special problems of the pupils, and there 
was a very far-reaching adjustment of method and grading in 
the case of the 121 children examined. Teachers learned quickly 
not to penalize and discourage these special problem children 
where they were backward due to low intelligence. Teachers 
almost immediately began to seek common ground on which to 
meet these individual pupils and to adupt the assigned task to 
the mentality and potential ability of the individual chfil'd. 
Mauy normal children had been permitted to waste their school 
opportunity because the teachers assumed that they were for 
some reason necessarily less capable than their fellows. Upon 
having the special teacher pronounce these children normal, the 
teachers immediately changed their attitude and required these 
children to live up to their abilities. 

At the end of the year when the question of promotion was 
being considered, the teachers were keenly alive to the factors 
to be considered in determining the child's eligibility for pro- 
motion. Where the tests indicated normal intelligence teachers 
were slow to refuse promotion for what had heretofore been 
considered as sufficient reason. Parents were consulted, 
physical condition of the child was taken into consideration, 
his previous school record was consulted, and these factors, 
together with his school record and results of the test, made 
the promotions at the close of the year the most satisfactory 
in the history of the school. Some 60 children were permitted 
to advance who would otherwise have been denied promotion, 
and six accelerated children of superior mentality were per- 
mitted to skip a grade, thus shortening their period in the ele- 
mentary school by a full year. 

These general principles were quite well established in the 
minds of the teachers at the close of this first year of investi- 
gation: 

21 



First — That there is a wide variation in the intelligence 
of school children, extending all the way from imbecility up 
through dullness, normality, superiority, to genius, and that all 
these types are to be found in almost any schoolroom, and that 
the teacher cannot neglect these individual variations in the 
conduct and management of a school. 

Second — They discovered that the retarded child is usually 
at a disadvantage as compared with a child of normal age 
when the two are subjected to the same educational experi- 
ences, the retarded child being dull and slow and able to master 
the problem only with long and more or less painstaking appli- 
cation; while the normal child, being keen and quick-witted, 
grasps the problem quickly and easily and responds at once. 
These children can, therefore, never be put on the same arbi- 
trary standing. 

Third — That whatever may be the defects of these tests as 
measurements of intelligence, they are easily superior to the 
unsupported judgment of the teacher, based upon casual class- 
room observations. 

THE SECOND YEAR'S USE OF THE TEST 

At the beginning of the second year it was determined to 
test out all the children of the first three grades by the use of 
the Terman Revision of the Binet tests. The substitution of 
the Terman test for the Kuhlman test was made because of a 
feeling that the suggestions contained in the blanks provided 
for the administration of the Terman tests were helpful to the 
examiner and that a more intelligent diagnosis of the individual 
child would result, and more detailed information would be 
collected. Some claims were made for the Terman Revision to 
the effect that the Kuhlman tests had been too easy in the 
lower years and too difficult in the upper years; while it was 
felt that there was some basis for this criticism, it was not 
regarded as of so much importance for our purposes as the 
more elaborate blank above mentioned. In addition to this 
proposed testing of all the children of the first three grades, 
it was further proposed to establish a special room for back- 
ward children, to place this room in charge of the special 
teacher, to carry on some experiments, and to determine whether 
or not it would be good policy to attempt to segregate the more 
backward of our children and teach them in a special room. 
It was decided to select twelve children from the lower grades 
and to make these twelve children a nucleus about which to 
form the proposed special room. The special teacher held a 
consultation with the teachers of the lower grades and secured 
from these teachers a list of pupils who, in the opinion of the 
teachers, were securing no benefits from their school experi- 
ence. These children were re-examined by the use of the tests 
and all the available information relative to the pupils and 
their previous school experience was collected. While there 

22 



was no definite basis for making the selection of twelve chil- 
dren, it was generally understood that the children selected 
would be those found by the report of the teacher and by the 
investigation of the special teacher to be the most serious 
class-room problems. After twelve children meeting these 
requirements had been found, the parents were consulted as to 
whether or not they would be willing to permit these children 
to enter this room in charge of the special teacher. The inves- 
tigation of home conditions resulting from these consultations 
revealed many interesting details with considerable significance 
which it is not possible to record in a report of this kind. It 
was found, however, that the parents were for the most part 
entirely willing that whatever action would be for the best 
interests of the child should be taken by the school and only 
in one instance were the parents unwilling that the children 
should be placed in charge of a special teacher. The interest 
of the Board of Education by this time prompted them to fit out 
a room very attractively for the use of the special teacher for 
the instruction of these children. Special equipment for hand- 
work and for special types of instruction was purchased by the 
Board, and in all several hundred dollars were expended to 
insure satisfactory working conditions for the experiment. The 
children varied in age from six to fourteen years. Variation 
in mental ability, however, was from imbecility to dull or Moron 
types. While these types had attracted very little attention in 
their respective grades, as soon as they were segregated in one 
room, one only had to step into that room for a few moments 
to realize the enormity of the problem which confronted the 
teacher. When one considered the absolute helplessness of 
these children, when together, it was difficult to realize that 
they had spent many years in the classroom with normal chil- 
dren and had during that time attracted very little attention. 
They were entirely unable to help each other. No two could be 
found in the group who would work together. Five of them 
had little or no control of their bodies and little or no muscular 
co-ordination, nor could they satisfactorily care for their 
physical wants. Some fell down when attempting to cross the 
room, fell out of their chairs, stumbled over the furniture, were 
unable to follow or carry out the most simple directions. They 
could not read; and it was evident that they could not be taught 
to read however careful and painstaking the teacher might be. 
Some of them were even unable to make use of the Montessori 
material which had been purchased with the idea that it was 
especially adapted for the use of backward children. It was 
determined to teach some of the twelve children to read just 
to illustrate what could be done. By constant drill in phonics, 
by never ending labor and patience, and by all manner of de- 
vices the teacher secured some progress in reading; but at the 
end of four months the progress was so little that it was hardly 

23 



descernible to any except those who had watched the children 
very carefully day by day. The outsider would have maintained 
that there had been no tangible progress. Boys who excelled 
in numbers and who showed much interest in this work were 
permitted by the teacher to devote considerable of their time 
to this line of work. They required, however, so much atten- 
tion from the teacher to keep them employed at the task about 
which they were concerned, that we were not able to determine 
just what might have been accomplished with the boys, although 
we did satisfy ourselves that some considerable progress would 
have been possible in their cases, although it would not in any 
sense of the word have amounted to what could have been con- 
sidered as valuable arithmetical information. Some were 
vicious and were a constant menace to the other children in 
the room. One evinced disposition to do his fellow classmates 
bodily injury. The teacher had to be constantly on the alert 
to see that he did not make use of a knife, club, or some other 
instrument with which he might inflict bodily injury upon his 
associates. Another member of the group was so much dis- 
posed to appropriate property belonging to the room and to his 
associates that it was necessary for the teacher to search his 
clothing before he was allowed to leave the room at any inter- 
mission or at the close of school, in order to prevent his carrying 
away equipment and whatever of personal belongings he might 
be able to secure from his classmates. Some of the group were 
so addicted to the use of profanity and obscene language as to 
make it necessary to keep them under constant observation 
if they were permitted to go upon the play-grounds at all. 
Others, if excused from the room on any pretext, would stray 
aimlessly away from the room or the building and might go 
home, or down town, or to any other place their fancy might 
direct them — they were entirely irresponsible. Some little girls, 
although capable of very little progress, were perfect models 
as to behavior and disposition and constantly manifested a love 
for housework and domestic tasks. They were efficient assist- 
ants to the teacher in the care of the room, the apparatus, and 
as far as they were able, were solicitous about the welfare of 
their associates. 

At the end of the four months' experiment it was deter- 
mined, unfortunately, to permit these pupils to return to their 
respective rooms. 

As a result of the experiment the following generalizations 
were made: 

First — That it was greatly to the advantage of the normal 
child in the various rooms to relieve the teacher from the care 
of these backward children. It permitted more time and atten- 
tion to the normal and accelerate children and greatly benefited 
the working conditions in the various rooms. Discipline was 

84 



less difficult and the teachers expressed a feeling of genuine 
relief. 

Second — It was found that with these children in the care 
of a special teacher they became much happier than when 
subjected to the competition of their more fortunate associates; 
and those who had heretofore been negligent and careless about 
their school attendance immediately became enthusiastic about 
school and were regular in attendance as far as their health 
permitted. In passing it might be said that the health of these 
twelve children was not good and there were many absences 
due to illness. 

Third — It was determined that although progress was pos- 
sible for most of these children, that this progress was not in 
such subjects as Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Language, 
but was rather in more or less mechanical tasks — tasks involv- 
ing the use of the hands and tasks which were rapidly reduced 
to routine. It was very noticeable that whenever these children 
learned to do anything, to perform any task, or make any fixed 
response, they immediately became enthusiastic about their 
ability in this line and insisted that they be given an oppor- 
tunity to repeat this response at every possible opportunity, 
They even insisted that the same story be repeated over and 
over, time after time, and were usually disappointed when the 
teacher suggested any change from the familiar material. 

Fourth — It was also evident that if the teacher was to 
make any progress with these special types of children it would 
have to be done in very small groups and under almost ideal 
conditions; that it was consequently a very expensive form of 
education. 

While the teaching corps, superintendent, principals and 
special teacher, would have been glad to maintain the special 
room and felt that it was well worth all it cost, the Board of 
Education thought that, under the existing financial conditions 
in this community, they could not afford to continue the special 
work. Consequently, they made no provision for the continua- 
tion of the work the coming school year. It is quite evident, 
however, that everyone concerned has a much deeper appre- 
ciation now of the problems involved in the handling of these 
children than at any previous time. It is also evident that in 
the future the general attitude of the school toward these chil- 
dren will be much more intelligent and friendly than it has 
heretofore been, and that many of the crimes unthinkingly com- 
mitted against these children will not be repeated in future 
relations between the school and these individuals. 

After the special room was discontinued, a few weeks were 
spent in going over the material which had been collected dur- 
ing the year's investigation and in making certain deductions 
as to the general results growing out of the whole investiga- 
tion. No effort had been made to use the tests among the older 

25 



children and no effort had been made to make any, vocational 
inferences as the results of the characteristics revealed by 
the tests. It was expected that if the work should be continued, 
these problems of the more adult children would be considered 
at a later time. It was felt by those who were familiar with 
the work here that the tests had demonstrated their adapta- 
bility for use in any school system where any teacher of usual 
skill and ability may be made sufficiently interested in the tests 
to master the details incidental to their administration. It was 
quite evident that the tests reveal the general ability of a child, 
his skill in making adjustments to new situations, certain ele- 
mentary characteristics with reference to his judgmebt, reason, 
memory, association of ideas, his past and present experiences, 
his keenness of perception, and all of those many elements 
which enter into a popular conception of intelligence. One is 
able to judge a child's ability to do what other children of his 
age can do and whether or not he can meet the ordinary every- 
day requirements which we may expect of children of his age. 
In other words, the tests furnished sort of a foundation or 
starting place from which the teacher may go on in her study 
of the child and his reactions to his environment. As a result 
of the records collected in connection with these tests teachers 
became interested in collecting all the possible available data 
relative to the children in their charge, and in the files of the 
school today one will find the usual marks of A, B, C, D, repre- 
senting as they do the teacher's opinion of the child's ability, 
but it is noted that these are not the records which the teach- 
ers usually seek. To the contrary, they search with avidity for 
those test sheets revealing the results of the Binet tests, the 
social status, the economic status, and all of those other more 
human indices of a child's general life and experience. One 
does not hear much debate among the teachers as to whether 
or not the child who has received a grade of 70 should be pro- 
moted, while a child who has received a grade of 69.9 shall not. 
The whole school seems to be permeated with a more rational 
and more intelligent attitude toward educational method and 
procedure. The popular conception of what education is has 
been changed and many of the weaknesses of the present-day 
school have been brought out in sharp contrast. It is not evi- 
dent that any contribution has been made from the scientific 
standpoint, nor is it felt that conditions as found here have been 
radically different from what any experienced investigator 
might easily have prophesied. The difference lies only in the 
fact that as a result of this self-survey, those results which have 
always been matters of common knowledge to educational 
investigators in college laboratories have been made the com- 
mon knowledge of the teachers who were doing the teaching in 
the classroom, and as a result the pupils who yearly pass from 
grade to grade in the Sterling Public Schools are made to 

26 



benefit in their life experiences by that information which 
would otherwise have been forever dead statistical information 
in the notebooks of those in charge of our educational labora- 
tories. 

The question often arises regarding the accuracy of mental 
tests made by persons who have not had long years of training 
in the giving of these tests. The following comparative table 
was made in order to discover how closely the work done with 
unselected children at Sterling compared with similar work 
done with unselected children by, Dr. L. M. Herman, who revised 
the Binet tests. The distributions, it will be noticed, are reason- 
ably similar. The variations can be readily accounted for in 
the difference in number of children tested by Terman, which 
was 905, and by Painter, which was 258. 

It should be noted that the 121 children were selected for 
the most part on the basis of having done poor school work and 
the distributions indicated are such as might have been 
predicted. 

Table comparing results of tests given by Terman to 905 unselected 
children, with results of tests given by Painter to 258 unselected chil- 
dren, and 121 selected * children in the schools of Sterling, Colorado. The 
first two groups were tested by the Stanford Revision and the last group 
by the Kuhlman Revision of the Binet-Simon test. 



I 


. Q. 


I. Q. 


I. Q. 


I. Q. I. Q. ] 


:. q. 


I.Q. 


I.Q. 






of 


of 


of 


of of 


of 


of 


of 






56 


76 


86 


96 106 


116 


126 


136 






to 


to 


to 


to to 


to 


to 


to 






75 


85 


95 


105 115 


125 


135 


145 


Totals. 


(905 group) No. 


















children having 


















I. Q. of quality 


















indicated . 


22 


78 


182 


306 210 


81 


21 


5 


905 


Percentages .... 


2.36 


8.6 


20.1 


33.9 23.1 


9 


2.3 


.55 


100% 


(258 group) No. 


















children having 


















I. Q. of quality 


















indicated 


9 


37 


55 


70 64 


16 


4 


3 


258 


Percentages .... 


3.5 


14.3 


21.3 


27.1 24.8 


6.2 


1.5 


1.1 


100% 


(121 group) No. 


















children having 






• 












I. Q. of quality 


















indicated ..... 


13 


31 


37 


20 14 


3 


3 





121 


Percentages .... 


10.7 


25.6 


30.6 


16.5 11.6 


2.4 


2.4 0. 


100% 



* These children were selected on the basis of their school work. 
Most of them were making poor progress in school. 

HEALTH AND ATTENDANCE 

By Dr. N. Eugenia Barney, 
The first definite attempt at regular and systematic health 
supervision in the Sterling Public Schools was instituted in 

27 



the fall of 1916, when the Board of Education employed the 
writer as Health and Attendance Officer. During the current 
school year an attempt has been made to get into close touch 
with the schools and to familiarize the health officer with the 
health problems confronting the Board of Education in the con- 
duct of the schools. It is hardly an opportune time to evaluate 
the results of the work accomplished or to make prophecies for 
the future. The encouraging feature of the work so far is the 
cordial co-operation of the superintendent, principals, teachers, 
and the Board in any and all matters pertaining to the work of 
this department. 

As the health officer is not employed for full time and as 
the compensation available for the work is small, only a limited 
number of problems have been considered and only initial prog- 
ress has thus far been made. The following lines of work have 
necessarily demanded attention and such work as has been done 
has been confined to the following problems: 

I. Control of Contagious Diseases. 

II. Physical Examination of School Children. 

III. Advisory Supervision of Sanitation, Ventilation, and Gen- 

eral Housing Conditions. 

IV. Advisory Supervision of Physical Education for the Cor- 

rection of Pronounced Physical Defects and such 
obvious Health Conditions as are easily remedied by 
Exercise, Diet, or Correct Habits of Living. 

V. Advisory Supervision of the Health and Physical Condi- 

tion of Teachers. 

VI. Attendance Officer for the Board of Education. 

Some discussion of these topics will give a more definite 
idea of the work that has been done and of the possibilities for 
health service in this connection. 

CONTROL OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES 

When the Health Officer began work Sterling was entering 
upon an extensive epidemic of measles and chicken pox. The 
City Health Department was doing what it could to maintain a 
quarantine and to examine such children as were sent to the 
Department by the teachers for certificates of health. It 
became evident that these precautions were not adequate owing 
to the following local conditions: 

1. There was an attitude of indifference to these diseases 
on the part of the community. Many parents were saying that 
these diseases were harmless and that children might as well 
have them sooner as later. Physicians even, were not much 
disposed to regard them seriously and many were careless about 
their reports to the health authorities and all were lax in quar- 
rantine enforcement. Dozens of cases of these diseases were 
discovered by accident while the officer was investigating cases 
of absence from school. These cases had probably not called 

28 



a physician at all and no report of the cases had been made to 
health authorities. As a result children from these homes were 
in school and in many cases where the disease was light, the 
infected child was back in school before the disease was well 
on its course. 

2. Teachers in the classroom were careless about the 
health of their pupils and were apparently ignorant of the 
characteristic signs of these diseases. As a result, childrden 
were permitted to remain in school until these diseases were 
well under way and until the affected child had opportunity to 
expose an entire room. 

As a result of these conditions, the diseases mentioned got 
such a start that a most rigorous defensive policy, was main- 
tained throughout the year in order that the schools might be 
kept open at all. As it was, the amount of time lost through 
absence was serious. 

A rigorous, systematic plan was at once put in effect to assist 
the city health authorities in both the quarrantine and in the 
effort to exclude the infected children. Children who were 
absent from school from any cause for one day were required 
to have health certificates from a physician before returning. 
If the child desired, he might appear before the Health 
Officer and secure this certificate free of charge, or if he 
preferred, a health certificate from the family or city physician 
was accepted, but careful attention was given to see that no 
child who might be a carrier of these diseases was permitted to 
enter or to remain in school. This task alone involved the 
examination and usually an investigation at the home of from 
one to twenty children per day throughout the prevalence of 
the epidemic. But headway was made from the first and very 
few rooms were so seriously affected by absences as to make 
the work unprofitable. 

These facts stand out as a result of this experience: 

1. The public must understand that these are serious dis- 
eases, the results of which cannot be predicted. The death rate 
is highest for measles of any of the so-called children's diseases. 

2. That these are preventable diseases and that children 
do not necessarily need to have them. 

3. The effectiveness of any health service established will 
have to depend largely upon intelligent co-operation of the 
teachers in the school. While they are ignorant of the easily 
discernible symptoms of the common diseases, there is no reason 
for this ignorance; and they may easily acquire the necessary 
skill in recognizing suspicious cases of contagion if proper 
attention is given to this problem. 

The accompanying chart represents the investigation made 
by the Health Officer relative to the percent of children who 
had defects, and relative to the number of children who had 
had the contagious diseases listed in the table. 

29 



It will be noted that the principal physical defects are 
those of the eyes, throat and teeth, while a very appreciable 
number of children have defects in reference to nutrition, nose, 
lungs, and the digestive disorders. Among the contagious dis- 
eases measles, pertusis, chicken pox and grippe are the most 
common, while scarlet fever, mumps and pneumonia are pre- 
valent to a degree which makes them very serious menaces to 
school heath. 

TABLE NO. 1 

Percent 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 



Nutrition 
Eyes 
Nose 
Ears 
Throat 
Lungs 
Skin 
Teeth 
Digestion 
Hernia 
Deformities 
Measles 
Scarlet Fever- 
Diphtheria 
Pertusis 
Mumps 
Chicken Pox 
Grippe 
Malaria 
Typhoid 
Pneumonia 
Meningitis 
Tuberculosis 



This represents the investigation made by Dr. Barney, the 
Regular Practicing Physician in the employment of School Dis- 

30 




trict No. 12, Sterling, Colorado. Six hundred twenty-eight 
children were included in this investigation. 

PHYSICAL EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL CHILDKEN 

The School Laws of the State of Colorado provide that all 
children in the public schools of the State shall be examined 
by, their teachers before the end of the first school month, this 
examination to cover the more obvious physical and health 
defects. 

These examinations have been given yearly in the Sterling 
Public Schools, as provided by law, but it is very evident that 
the teachers have performed these examinations in a very per- 
functory manner, and that little or no attention has been given 
to the signs and symptoms of physical defects whereby teachers 
might recognize at least the major part of the ills common to 
school children. Notwithstanding this fact, much good has 
come from the physical examinations, as provided for under 
the law. No one would suggest, however, that this is sufficient 
or adequate, and all would agree that wherever possible, the 
work begun by the teachers in this department should be con- 
tinued under the direction of a competent physician. During 
the past year the Health Officer began this physical examina- 
tion and succeeded in making a careful examination of 628 
children. This examination took account, first, of the height 
and weight of the boys and girls examined, the results of this 
examination being tabulated in table No. 2, which appears at 
this point. 

TABLE NO. 2 
Age Boys Girls 





Height 


Weight 


Height 


Weight 


6 


3- 9.8 


47 


3- 7.8 


47.1 


7 


4 


52.3 


3-11 


45.5 


8 


4- 2.6 


58 


4- 1.5 


54.3 


9 


4- 4.66 


63.3 


4- 3.25 


59 


10 


4- 6.33 


71.57 


4- 5.8 


66.5 


11 


4- 8 


75.75 


4- 9 


80.2 


12 


4- 9 


80.33 


4-11.25 


86 


13 


5 


96 


5 


90.8 



In addition to these points, the examination extended to 
all of the ordinary defects, and a health record chart, copy of 
which is printed herewith, is made out in full for each child 
examined. It will be seen that this health chart is a complete 
record of each child during his history in school, and should, 
as the record accumulates, become of great value to officers 
and teachers in the control of contagious diseases, and in the 
direction of physical education for the relief of such physical 
defects as are to be remedied by physical education, diet, cor- 
rect sleeping habits and other easily administered hygienic 
regulations. 

In this connection it is intended to conduct a course in 
hygiene for the instruction of the teachers in the public schools, 

31 



and during the course of this instruction to acquaint the teach- 
ers more definitely with those phases of public health immedi- 
ately applicable to the problem of the public schools. 

III. ADVISORY SUPERVISION OF SANITATION, VEN- 
. TILATION AND GENERAL HOUSING CONDITIONS 

1. Sanitation. Sanitation in the Sterling Public Schools 
is probably about average, when the better school systems of 
the country are considered. The floors in all the buildings are 
treated with dressings calculated to keep down the dust; and 
the janitors in sweeping make use of a good grade of sweeping 
compound so that from this standpoint there is nothing to be 
offered in the way of criticism. It is quite evident, however, 
from even a casual examination of the buildings, that the dust- 
ing with an oiled cloth is not done as thoroughly as it should 
be done. For instance, the fact of the dust over the window 
tops, on top of the furniture, on picture moldings and elsewhere, 
indicates that more efficient janitor service would do much to 
make the sanitary condition of the buildings better. 

Throughout the buildings paper towels, liquid soap and 
other adequate facilities for cleanliness are provided. In the 
toilet rooms of the various buildings, trade disinfectants and 
deodorizers are used in these rooms and they are kept in as 
sanitary condition as one finds in the average school system. 
There is, however, a great deal of room for improvement. It 
might be noted that the buildings vary greatly in their equip- 
ment. This has been enlarged upon in the survey, so it need 
be only mentioned at this time. The toilet facilities at the Lin- 
coln building, particularly, are in need of repair and additional 
equipment is needed to make them satisfactory. 

The school buildings are scrubbed twice during the year 
and thoroughly disinfected once during the year and after any 
outbreak of contagious diseases. In scrubbing a very efficient 
disinfectant is used, and as all woodwork, floors and equipment 
are thoroughly washed, there can be no doubt that the buildings 
are in satisfactory condition immediately following these clean- 
ings. The fumigators used are the Dupree, Standard Formal- 
dahyde Fumigating Candles, and as these have been approved 
by numerous boards of health, it seems that no improvement 
can be made upon the method of fumigation. 

2. Ventilation. In both the Franklin and Lincoln build- 
ings the ventilation is practically that offered by open windows, 
transoms and doors. While there are some few air passages 
leading in and out of the rooms, the amount of air handled 
through these passages is insignificant. The impression gained 
by visiting the schoolrooms in all the buildings is to the effect 
that the teachers are grossly negligent in the matter of venti- 
lation. The rooms are allowed to become over-heated, the air 
to become foul and oppressive and many other serious condi- 

32 



tions are permitted to develop which might be easily remedied 
by careful attention on the part of the teachers. 

3. General Housing Conditions. General housing condi- 
tions are discussed fully under the building survey in another 
part of this report. It is, therefore, unnecessary to make any 
comment at this time other than to call the attention of the 
taxpayers to the general crowded condition of the schools, and 
the suggestion that there should be erected upon the present 
site of the Franklin school building, a modern school building, 
thoroughly equipped for modern school work, large enough to 
take care of the probable increase of the school population in 
this section of the city. Under present conditions, pupils are 
being sent to the Lincoln school from points as far south as 
Lincoln street, and this necessitates not only a long walk 
for the little children, it also necessitates crossing of the B, 
& M. tracks, which are now being used much more extensively 
for switching purposes. It is becoming more and more neces- 
sary that the Franklin school be enlarged to where it will at 
least take care of children in the lower grades. 

ADVISORY SUPERVISION OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION 
FOR THE CORRECTION OF PRONOUNCED PHYSICAL 
DEFECTS AND SUCH OBVIOUS HEALTH CONDI 
TIONS AS ARE EASILY REMEDIED BY EXERCISE, 
DIET, OR CORRECT HABITS OF LIVING. 
1. The one pronounced impression left after the examina- 
tion of the school children was the noticeable bad posture of 
many of the boys and girls in many of the lower grades. Stoop 
shoulders, round shoulders, sloppy and careless habits of stand- 
ing and moving were so noticeable as to indicate a pressing 
necessity for physical education. It is certainly high time that 
boards of education throughout the country come to take a 
more constructive attitude toward physical education. The 
training of the mind was long a dominant aim in education. 
To this has recently been added manual training or the train- 
ing of the hands, and to these two must be added, and quickly, 
a systematic physical education which is fundamental in both 
the other types of education. Many of the defects of such 
serious nature as to make the school of little or no value to the 
child, might be easily remedied by ordinary attention to such 
simple matters as exercise, diet and correct habits of living. 
It is certainly desirable that some teacher be appointed to take 
special charge of this particular department; but until this is 
possible, all teachers throughout the system should be required 
to give up at least a part of their school program to such 
physical education as may be carried on under the direction of 
the supervisory corps and the health officer. There is assuredly 
no excuse for the present neglect of these matters by the regu- 
lar teachers, and no excuse for their apparent indifference or 

33 



ignorance of the simple exercises calculated to remedy some of 
the more obvious faults of carriage and posture. 

ADVISORY SUPERVISION OF THE HEALTH AND PHYSI- 
CAL CONDITION OF TEACHERS 

The health of the school children is internally bound up 
with that of the teacher. The prevalence of ill health among 
teachers is usually traced in part to the absence of any serious 
physical examination of candidates for educational service, and 
in part to the teacher's strenuous work, indoor life, and neglect 
of personal hygiene. Considerations of economy, as well as jus- 
tice to both children and teacher, demand that all these matters 
be given attention. 

HEALTH CERTIFICATES FOR TEACHERS 
Candidates for teaching positions should be required to 
pass a thorough medical examination given by the school 
physician. This should include examination for defects of 
lungs, heart, vision, hearing, nervous system, nutrition, etc. 
Experience shows that the more formal requirements of a 
certificate of good health, signed by a reputable physician is 
absolutely worthless. (Any one who has not already been 
turned over to the undertaker can secure such a statement.) 
Suitable blanks should be provided for these examinations. 

ATTENDANCE OFFICER, BOARD OF EDUCATION 

The attendance officer has been employed by the Board of 
Education for a number of years. It has been the custom for 
the teachers to report to the principals, the names of pupils 
who may be absent from school, the principals to report these 
names to the truant officer, who is permitted by those employ- 
ing him to make an investigation of the cause of absence and to 
return the child to school if, in his opinion, the absence is not 
excusable. The results from this method have been unsatis- 
factory and the actual school attendance has been notably low, 
particularly in reference to certain classes of children. During 
the year past the work has been conducted upon this basis, but 
the results have been poor. The work has been difficult 
because the attendance officer did not have any accurate data 
as to age, number, or location of the children. Neither the 
attendance officer nor the principal can know, with any degree 
of accuracy, what children should report for school at the begin- 
ning of any school year. They do not know what children are 
attending private or parochial schools instead of the public 
schools. What is needed to secure any adequate enforcement 
of compulsory attendance laws, is an accurate school census, a 
copy of this to be supplied to the principal and attendance 
officer. This data will assist the attendance officer in the 
investigation of those cases which are reported to the truant 
officer as being habitually truant. 

34 



This, however, will not solve the problem in reference to 
the attendance of the children commonly referred to as Russian 
children, coming from those homes supported by the labor of 
the parents and their children in the beet fields of the com- 
munity. The attendance of these children in the public schools 
is so very unsatisfactory as to call the attention of the entire 
state to the problem and to have been the cause of a spirited 
fight in the last Legislature to secure the passage of a law 
which will make it illegal to permit them to be employed in 
any agricultural labor. There can be no doubt that a serious 
crime is being committed against the children of these people 
by permitting them to be out of school anywhere from 50 to 
70 per cent of the school year. The attendance records show 
an average of 40 to 50 days per school year, is rather the excep- 
tion than the rule for many of these children, and there are 
many instances in which these children are not in school to 
exceed 20 or 30 days out of a total of 190 days while school is 
in session. 

The parents of these children maintain that their labor is 
necessary for their support, and finally maintain that it is 
beneficial to these children to be employed in agricultural labor. 
A very careful investigation of the facts goes to show that the 
labor of these children is not necessary either for their own, or 
for their parents' support. In the first place, the laws of the 
State of Colorado provide for the care of children where inabil- 
ity of the parents to properly support them and keep them in 
school has been proven. And in the second place, it is evident 
to any one who comes in contact with these people, and comes 
to know their business affairs, that they are for the most part 
well-to-do people, and are much further removed from danger 
of poverty than are the parents of many children who would 
not, under any circumstances, sacrifice a day of their school 
life for economic gain. There are records to substantiate the 
case of one parent who took oath that the child's labor was 
necessary for his support, and who had in the bank at the time 
he took his oath, in the neighborhood of f 40,000. 

Not only is the attitude of these people one of indifference 
to school attendance, but the attitude of the officers of the 
law, and the community in general is against a rigorous en- 
forcement of the public education laws for these children. Just 
why this community should care to profit at the expense of 
these child laborers and to bring up a group of people in our 
midst, for the most part unhealthy and uneducated Americans, 
is not quite clear. But that this is the condition in this com- 
munity cannot for a moment be doubted. It is certainly high 
time that those responsible for the conduct of affairs in this 
community should take it upon themselves to insist that the 
law be enforced to a point where these children are in school 

35 



the required amount of time. A campaign to this effect will 
be carried on until these results have been accomplished. 

In conclusion it is well to say that the work of this depart- 
ment is new and that only a beginning has been made. There 
is no pretense that this report is in any sense of the word 
adequate, nor is it claimed that statistical information has 
been collected at this time to completely verify all the state- 
ments made in this report. It should be said, however, that 
the investigation has been carried on far enough to indicate 
that these facts are true and that there is no reason for the 
continued negligence of them on the basis that the need for 
the service has not been clearly demonstrated. By the end of 
another year it is hoped that the department will be upon 
its feet and that a fund of statistical information will have been 
collected, and that a number of projects will have been con- 
ducted to a point where results will be noticeable and that a 
more satisfactory report, covering all activities of the depart- 
ment will be made. In the meantime it is hoped that the Board 
of Education, Superintendent, Principals and Teachers, and the 
people of the community will co-operate in every possible way 
in the interests of public health. 

THE STANDARDIZED TEST 
Its Use in the School System 
All are familiar with the system of marking or grading in 
vogue in the school systems of the country for many years past. 
This system of marking was simple, and although the parents, 
teachers and pupils found certain phases of it more or less 
unsatisfactory, it was generally accepted without much protest 
and the results indicated upon the report card were seldom 
questioned by any one immediately concerned. This sys- 
tem of marking had two phases. One of these phases 
was the opinion which the teacher expressed of the child's 
ability and achievement based upon the child's classroom reac- 
tion to such questions as the teacher might ask and such tasks 
as might from time to time be imposed. It is easily to be seen 
that a child's grade based upon his classroom response was 
very likely to be influenced by such factors as the child's bash- 
fulness, timidity or self-assertiveness, or upon whether the 
child was a member of a large class or a small one, or whether 
by chance he was called upon many times during the month or 
only a few times, and whether or not, when called upon, he 
made all possible use of his opportunity to show his knowledge 
or whether he was inclined to pass by the opportunity to recite 
with little or no effort. 

The other phase of the older system of marking is the 
so-called examination in which the teacher or some other per- 
son made out a set of questions presumed to test the ability of 
the child on certain subject-matter which he was assumed to 

36 



have mastered and after he had responded to the examination 
the teacher passed an opinion expressed in percents or letters 
as to how much or little of the subject-matter called for the 
child had been able to give. It will be seen at once that this 
test was influenced by the temperament of the person making 
out the questions. One teacher would make a set of examina- 
tion questions very technical and difficult, calling for exact and 
precise information; another would make a set of examination 
questions easy, general and vague, so that any child with the 
most general knowledge of the subject-matter might succeed 
fairly well. 

The most superficial observer of the examination-class- 
average system, which is the report card system, in common 
use, will discover that the marking is largely governed by a 
standard that is founded upon the individual and evanescent 
ideals of different teachers. There is no uniformity, the stand- 
ard is multiple, and each teacher is a law unto herself in the 
administration of the marking. Under such a system it is not 
possible for two teachers marking the same work independently 
to agree even approximately in their marks. An experiment in 
Sterling, under the most favorable conditions, showed a varia- 
tion of over twenty points in the marking of identical work by 
different teachers equally competent to judge. Not only is it 
impossible for teachers to agree with each other, but the indi- 
vidual teacher cannot even agree with herself, for her standard 
is elusive and variable, changing from month to month and from 
day to day, even from hour to hour. She cannot fix the same 
value upon work in the afternoon that was placed upon it in 
the morning, and the estimates clearly are modified by the 
existing physical condition and the passing state of mind. 
Whether the teacher has a headache while marking the exami- 
nation papers or the recitation, whether she has a cold, has failed 
to receive a looked-for letter, or is distressed by what she ate 
late in the evening before — these things, under the usual system 
of monthly standings, all become material factors in the meas- 
urement of the ability and achievement of the children; and it 
is highly probable that not infrequently such extraneous cir- 
cumstances have been determining influences in deciding the 
momentous questions of promotion or retention. 

For many years attempts have been made to collect the 
results of these haphazard methods and to obtain a system of 
procedure that would insure a degree of scientific accuracy in 
the measurement of certain phases of school achievement. The 
fundamental essential back of the standardized test is that 
there are certain fundamental facts to be taught in connection 
with each of the common branches, and that all children, in 
whatever school system they may be, should become familiar 
with these facts to a certain standardized degree. Examina- 
tions calling for a knowledge of these facts have been devised 

37 



by experts in education and have been given to thousands of 
school children throughout the country, and the results obtained 
by these children have been collected and carefully scrutinized 
to determine whether or not the tests as devised actually 
measure the attainable result to be expected of the children in 
any certain grade. After many years of experience and after 
a most thorough investigation, standardized examinations have 
been devised for a number of the common branches. These 
examinations are uniform for all school systems throughout the 
country. They are always given, as nearly as possible, under 
the same conditions; they call for the same knowledge; the 
answers to all the questions are standardized so that one 
teacher can grade papers as well as another and so that two 
teachers grading the same set of papers would necessarily give 
a child the same grade, thus eliminating most of the objection- 
able features characteristic of the older systems of marking. 
It will be seen from the above that the standardized test is not 
radically different in principle from the tests which have been 
employed in the public schools from time immemorial; they are 
simply a refinement of the older methods in that they have 
reduced to greater accuracy those elements of the test which 
were haphazard and inaccurate. 

By the foregoing it may be seen that it would be possible 
to compare one school system with another, since all take the 
same examinations and all must be necessarily graded by the 
same standards. This is exactly what the survey is calculated 
to do. In the results tabulated in the survey which follows, 
the reader will note that Sterling is constantly compared to 
other school systems in the results which she is able to achieve 
in the teaching of the common branches. It is not claimed, of 
course, that a higher or lower score than other school systems 
absolutely proves or disproves that Sterling schools are superior 
or inferior to school systems to which they are compared. The 
assumption is that, when Sterling schools are able to do as well 
in the teaching of the common branches as other school systems 
that the methods in Sterling are equally good, and that when 
our results are notably inferior to those achieved by other 
school systems that there is serious question whether or not our 
methods may be regarded as satisfactory. 

The most valuable feature of such tests lies, however, not 
in comparing Sterling's schools to other schools, but in reveal- 
ing to the teacher and the supervising officials the special 
defects of each boy and girl in the system. This makes it pos- 
sible to center effort on the correction of the defect. We have 
learned that children are not poor in arithmetic but are poor in 
certain phases of the subject, while they are good in other 
phases of it. A child may be good in addition and poor in 
division, good in subtraction and poor in multiplication or the 
reverse. The same principle applies in other subjects. 

38 



ARITHMETIC 

Arithmetic has held a relatively important place in the 
minds of Sterling teachers. In a small system, located in an 
agricultural community there has been a firm insistence on the 
part of patrons that the schools secure practical results in 
arithmetic always with the implication that this subject is the 
one really practical, worth while subject in the modern school 
curriculum. 

TABLE 1 

Amount and distribution of time in arithmetic, standard 
based on report of W. A. Jessup, the Fourteenth Year Book of 
the National Society for the Study of Education, 1915. 



Grades 


12345678 


% of 
All 


Proposed Standard 
of time allotment . . , 


... 75 100 125 150 150 150 150 170 


10.7 


Time alloted in 


,...110 130 105 160 175 185 200 200 


11.8 



Table No. 1 shows that Sterling does not devote an exces- 
sive amount of time to arithmetic. While the amount in each 
grade, except the third, is above the maximum recommended 
in the report of the National Society, the excess is not a large 
amount and when taken for the system as a whole only amounts 
to slightly over one per cent. 

The table, however, shows only the class recitation time 
and does not take account of the supervised study periods. 
This is the element of most significance so far as this system is 
concerned. Many of the teachers use every available bit of 
excess time for drill work in arithmetic, none of which time 
is computed in this table. 

The tendency to departmenta 7 ize the teaching above the 
fifth grade has afforded the strong special teacher opportunity 
to seize a lion's share of the child's study time. Observation 
confirms this condition in the arithmetic work. There can be 
no doubt that this subject receives an undue amount of atten- 
tion, and that there is need for a redistribution of time. 

COURSE OF STUDY AND TEXT-BOOKS 

The course of study prescribed is the typical formalized 
prescription common to state and city courses of study. Care 
has been taken to include minimum essentials after the recom- 
mendations of the Fourteenth Year Book of the National 
Society for the Study of Education, and adjustments have also 
been made to conform to requirements of the State Course of 
Study for Colorado. 

Suggestions and devices have also been incorporated in the 
course so that the course may be of great value to the teacher 

39 



in the conduct of her class. At the same time there is no 
attempt to enumerate minute details or to hamper individual 
initiative. 

The course may be criticized for its lack of evident definite 
aim. Improvement would result if some clear thinking were 
done on the planes of achievement to be reached by, each grade, 
and if a careful analysis were made of the processes and pro- 
cedures by which these planes are to be achieved by the pupils 
in each grade. 

Where supervision is necessarily limited it is more import- 
ant that specific instructions supplant generalities and for- 
malistic suggestions. 

The text-books used for a period of years have been the 
following in the order named: 

White's First Book, and Complete, from date of early publi- 
cation to 1910. 

The Smith Arithmetics, from 1910 to 1915. 

Wentworth-Smith's, Three Book Series, from 1915 . 

That the text-book practically determines the course of 
study despite any and all suggestions is generally well known, 
and an intimate acquaintance with Sterling schools shows no 
exception. The text-book becomes more an end to be attained 
than an aid to the teaching of the subject. 

THE TESTS 

The work was tested by the Courtis Tests, Series B, and 
by the Starch Arithmetic, Scale A, for testing reasoning. 

These tests were given by a special teach and the results 
were scored in the Superintendent's office. It was found that 
the scoring of papers by the pupils, as suggested by Mr. 
Courtis, resulted in an appreciable amount of error, enough in 
many cases to make the results of the tests misleading, as far 
as certain rooms were concerned. Our experience with these 
tests in this, a small system where attention should be given 
to minute detail, has lead us to doubt the authenticity of many 
survey reports where the task has been so extensive as to 
necessitate partial investigations, selection of certain rooms or 
pupils presumed to be "typical," and the scoring of papers by 
methods that permit of error. These tests are not safe guides 
except where all the evidence is in, and is in under conditions 
guaranteeing accuracy. 

WHAT ARE THE TESTS? 

The following illustrations will give an idea of the tests: 



ARITHMETIC. TEST NO. 1. ADDITION 
Series B. Form 2 

You will be given eight minutes to find the answers to as 
many of these addition examples as possible. Write the 

40 



answers on this paper directly underneath the examples. You 
are not expected to be able to do them all. You will be marked 
for both speed and accuracy, but it is more important to have 
your answers right than to try a great many examples. 



127 


996 


237 


386 186 


474 


877 


537 


375 


320 


949 


463 775 


787 


845 


685 


953 


778 


486 


827 684 


591 


981 


452 


333 


886 


987 


240 260 


106 


693 


904 


325 


913 


354 


616 372 


869 


184 


511 


911 


164 


600 


261 846 


451 


772 


988 


554 


897 


744 


755 595 


336 


749 


559 


167 


972 


195 


833 254 


820 


256 


127 


554 


119 


234 


959 137 


533 


258 


323 


Twenty-four 


problems of the above character made 


up the 


test in 


addition. 













ARITHMETIC. TEST NO. 2. SUBTRACTION 

Series B. Form 2 

You will be given four minutes to find the answers to as 
many of these subtraction examples as possible. Write the 
answers on this paper directly underneath the examples. You 
are not expected to be able to do them all. You will be marked 
for both speed and accuracy, but it is more important to have 
your answers right than to try a great many examples. 
114957187 94752808 106089449 99833978 

90271797 67349640 16915390 73160227 



Twenty-four problems similar to the above constitute the 
test in subtraction. 



ARITHMETIC. TEST NO. 3. MULTIPLICATION. 

Series B. Form 2 
You will be given six minutes to work as many of these 
multiplication examples as possible. You are not expected to 
be able to do them all. Do your work directly on this paper; 
use no other. You will be marked for both speed and accu- 
racy, but it is more important to have your answers right than 
to try a great many examples. 

8259 3467 4637 2859 7436 

28 93 82 47 65 



Twenty-four similar problems constitute the test in multi- 
plication. 



ARITHMETIC. TEST NO. 4. DIVISION 

Series B. Form 2 
You will be given eight minutes to work as many of these 
division examples as possible. You are not expected to be able 

41 



to do them all. Do your work directly on this paper; use no 
other. You will be marked for both speed and accuracy, but 
it is more important to have your answers right than to try a 
great many examples. 

24)6984 95)85880 36)10440 87)81867 

Twenty-four similar problems constitute the test in division. 

TABLE 2 
The following tabulation deals with the problems at- 
tempted within a given time, and is, therefore, a measurement 
of speed only, and does not deal at all with, how dependable the 
figuring of the children really is. 



Grades 



Addition 
3 



June standard for speed 4 6 

Sterling April Record 5.6 6 

Deviation from standard 1.6 

Sterling April Record 5.6 6 

Sterling October Record 

Growth October to April 

Subtraction 

June standard for speed 4 6 

Sterling April Record 5.2 6.4 

Deviation from standard 1.2 .4 

Sterling April Record 5.2 6.4 

Sterling October Record 

Growth October to April 

Multiplication 

June standard for speed 4.5 

Sterling April Record 5.8 

Deviation from standard 1.3 

Sterling April Record 5.8 

Sterling October Record 

Growth October to April 

Division 

June standard for speed 3.5 

Sterling April Record 3.9 

Deviation from standard .4 

Sterling April Record 3.9 

Sterling October Record 

Growth October to April 



7.5 
7.5 



9.0 

9.4 
.4 


10.5 

7.9 

—2.6 


12.0 

8.7 

—3.3 


7.5 
5.3 
2.2 


9.4 

6.7 

2.7 


7.9 
6.8 
1.1 


8.7 
7.6 
1.1 


8 

8.3 
.3 


10 
10.1 
.1 


11.5 

9.9 

—1.6 


12.5 

10.8 

—1.7 


8.3 
7.3 
1.0 


10.1 
8.2 
1.9 


9.9 
8.4 
1.5 


10.8 
9.7 
1.1 


7 

8.2 

1.2 


8.5 

11.1 

2.6 


10 

9.1 
—.9 


11.5 
10.7 
—.8 


8.2 
5.1 
3.1 


11.1 
6.7 
4.4 


9.1 
7.6 
1.5 


10.7 
8.6 
2.1 


5 

6.3 

1.3 


6.5 
9.1 
2.6 


8.5 

6.8 

—1.7 


10.5 

9.6 

—.9 


6.3 
3.5 

2.8 


9.1 
5.6 
3.5 


6.8 

6.5 

.3 


9.6 
8.2 
1.4 



TABLE 3 

The following tabulation deals only with problems correctly 
worked, and does not show how many were attempted or for 
which incorrect answers were given. This is a comparison 
based upon the dependable figuring of the children in the Ster- 
ling public schools. 

42 



Addition 

Grades 3 4 5 6 7 8 

June Standard 2 3 4 5 6.5 8 

Sterling April Record 1.7 2.6 4.5 6.2 4.2 5 

Deviation from standard 3 .4 .5 1.2 — 2.3 — 3 

Sterling April Record 1.7 2.6 4.5 6.2 4.2 5 

Sterling October Record 2 3.5 3.7 3.6 

Growth October to April 2.5 2.7 .5 1.4 

Subtraction 

June Standard 1 3 5.5 7 8.5 10 

Sterling April Record 2.2 3.5 6.5 6.7 7.2 9 

Deviation from Standard 1.2 .5 1 — .3 — 1.3 — 1 

Sterling April Record 2.2 3.5 6.5 6.7 7.2 9 

Sterling October Record 4.4 4.6 6 6.8 

Growth October to April 2.1 2.1 1.2 2.2 

Multiplication 

June Standard 1.5 4 5.5 6.5 8 

Sterling April Record 2.8 3.9 8.3 7 8 

Deviation from standard 1.3 — .1 2.8 .5 

Sterling April Record 2.8 3.9 8.3 7 8 

Sterling October Record 2.9 3.5 4.6 4.5 

Growth October to April 1.0 4.8 2.4 3.5 

Division 

June Standard 1 3 5 7 9 

Sterling April Record 1.4 4.5 7.2 5.2 7.7 

Deviation from Standard .4 1.5 2.2 —1.8 —1.3 

9 

Sterling April Record 1.4 4.5 7.2 5.2 7.7 

Sterling October Record 1.6 2.4 4.6 5.3 

Growth October to April 2.9 4.8 .6 2.4 

A close study of tables 1 and 2 with reference to standards 
reveals a satisfactory condition in grades three, four, five and 
six. While there are variations, sometimes below, usually above 
the standards, these variations are not large nor do they indi- 
cate that there is any serious cause for criticism of the results 
we are now securing in these grades. 

In the seventh and eighth grades there is a serious defi- 
ciency. These grades are far below standard both in speed and 
accuracy. When the fall standards are considered it is evident 
that this deficiency is of long standing and that, while the fault 
cannot be charged entirely to this year's teaching in these 
grades, there is serious fault to be found with the conditions 
existing there. There has been a most decided stiffening up 
of the arithmetic teaching since the fall tests were given in 
grades five and six, but the growth for the seventh and eighth 
grades is negligible and the returns from the effort in the eighth 
grade is particularly unsatisfactory. 

The following table shows that the growth in the funda- 
mentals in these grades has not been comparable to the growth 
in the fifth and sixth grades. 

43 



TABLE 4 

This table shows total gains in speed and accuracy in all 
the fundamental operations between time of fall and time of 
spring tests in grades from five to eight. 



Grade 



Accuracy 8.5 14.4 4.7 9.5 

Speed 9.1 12.5 4.4 .57 

It is evident that the seventh and eighth grade pupils' 
plane of achievement in the fundamentals is much too low. 
This is true in the seventh grade at both fall and spring tests, 
and the eighth grade results do not indicate that two years of 
teaching produce any satisfactory changes. 

TABLE 5 

(Oubbery) 

Table showing standing of Sterling in the fundamentals of 
arithmetic, compared with other cities. 





Addition 






Multiplication 




5 


6 


7 


8 




5 


6 


7 


8 


5.7 


7.0 


7.5 


9.4 


Detroit 


5.8 


7.2 


7.8 


9.8 


6.6 


8.3 


9.0 


10.4 


Boston 


5.6 


7.2 


8.2 


9.3 


3.6 


5.4 


6.3 


7.1 


Others 


4.0 


5.8 


8.6 


8.5 


4.1 


6.4 


6.9 


8.5 


Salt Lake 


4.3 


5.3 


7.1 


8.3 


5.2 


5.7 


5.6 


7.5 


Iowa 


5.6 


6.7 


8.2 


9.5 


3.6 


4.4 


4.9 


5.8 


Indiana 


3,9 


5.1 


5.9 


7.3 


3.0 


3.9 


4.8 


5.4 


Kansas 


3.1 


4.7 


5.9 


8.3 


4.5 


6.2 


4.2 


5 


Sterling 


3.9 


8.3 


7 


8 




Subtraction 








Division 




7.9 


8.6 


9.9 


12.5 


Detroit 


4.6 


7.3 


9.7 


11,7 


7.7 


9.5 


10.3 


11.8 


Boston 


4.9 


7.4 


8.8 


11.0 


5.6 


7.3 


9.9 


10.3 


Others 


3.7 


5.7 


6.7 


9.3 


5.2 


7.8 


8.8 


9.8 


Salt Lake 


3.0 


5.5 


7.7 


9.5 


7.0 


8.0 


9.2 


11.1 


Iowa 


5.0 


6.3 


8.0 


10.9 


5.0 


6.5 


7.9 


8.9 


Indiana 


2,6 


4.8 


6.7 


9.1 


4.0 


5.9 


7.2 


7.7 


Kansas 


2.0 


3.5 


5.3 


7.2 


6.5 


6.7 


6.5 


9 


Sterling 


4.5 


7.2 


5.2 


7.7 



The above table shows the results in Sterling as compared 
to other cities. It will be seen that our results compare very 
favorably with those obtained elsewhere, except in our seventh 
and eighth grades. In some grades the Sterling achievement is 
well up with that of other cities. In some grades it is higher, 
and in others lower. Taken as a whole the comparison is cred- 
itable, but not to the point where the condition may be regarded 
with complacency. 

REASONING. 
The reasoning ability in the schools was tested by Starch's 
Arithmetical Scale A. This test was given in the spring and 

44 



shows how Sterling compares with the standards so far deter- 
mined for this test. 

TABLE 6 



Grade 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 




6.2 

5.8 


7.8 
7.9 


9.4 
10.2 


11 

12 


12.6 
12.7 



It will be noticed that the Sterling schools are almost en- 
tirely, above the standard, the fourth grade being slightly be- 
low. It is also noticeable that in the seventh grade where the 
showing was unsatisfactory in the fundamental operations, it is 
well above the standard in reasoning ability. It is also true 
that both the seventh and eighth grades have made a most ex- 
cellent showing in this reasoning test. The teachers are of the 
opinion that this proves that they have secured satisfactory re- 
sults in the things they have emphasized. They urge that they 
have yielded to the demand for practical problems and meaning- 
ful arithmetic as opposed to mere formal drill and that the tests 
have revealed a wrong emphasis but not poor results. This 
comment is offered for what it is worth. It represents the reac- 
tion of the teachers and they have much detailed information 
worthy of careful consideration when discussing a point of this 
kind. 

CONCLUSION 

I. The tests have clarified the ideas of our teachers with 
regard to the teaching of arithmetic. They know what should 
be expected of children in the various grades. They know how 
to determine when they have attained the desired skill, and they 
are beginning to see the necessity for method in arithmetic 
teaching. 

II. Teachers know now that drill on the fundamentals is 
of little or no value until definite aims are set. To secure speed 
a teacher must set certain standards and devise methods of at- 
taining those standards. The same is true of accuracy. If 
a child uses wrong addition habits, a continued drill tending to 
fix those habits does not improve his achievement. These 
habits must be remedied, new ones formed, and skill acquired. 

III. Mere emphasis is not a guarantee of results. A 
proper amount of time well spent is more meaningful than an 
endless amount of time spent aimlessly. 

IV. The returns of the arithmetic teaching in grades 
seven and eight are not satisfactory. The reasoning ability of 
pupils must be developed about as it is, but ability in the fund- 
amentals must not be neglected. The business man who has 
maintained that our eighth grade people cannot add, subtract, 
multiply and divide has been right. 

V. There is a wide variation in the results secured by dif- 
ferent teachers in the same grade. Some grades in one building 
did twice as well as corresponding grades in other buildings. 

45 



READING 

In surveying the work in reading it should be borne in 
mind that achievement in reading is quite largely governed 
by methods of presentation and these are, in turn, much in- 
fluenced by the ideals and aims of those responsible for the 
general supervision. To survey work in reading fairly, one 
should take into account the ideals and motives underlying the 
instruction, the aims and ideals common to the system, course 
of study and prescribed materials, as well as classroom methods 
of the teachers. To value work in the light of aims entirely at 
variance with those under which it was done would certainly 
be working at cross purposes. 

The Sterling course of study in reading is brief. It states 
the aims of the course, outlines the problems and sets forth 
general principles by which teachers are to be guided. Specific 
methods of procedure, materials and detailed outlines are not 
attempted. The course differs from most of the courses in 
reading which we have examined in that schools ordinarily as- 
sign to reading the place of first importance throughout the 
elementary school, while Sterling reserves this primacy to the 
first three grades. This is done for reasons which will appear 
later. 

The course divides the schools into three departments for 
each of which a distinct set of aims, problems, and principles 
is enumerated. These departments are the Primary, including 
Grades I, II, and III ; the Intermediate, including Grades IV, V, 
and VI; and the Junior High School, including Grades VII 
and VIII. 

Throughout the Primary and Intermediate departments the 
importance of sense-experience is emphasized, the keynote to 
this emphasis being sounded in the introductory general state- 
ment which asserts that "No word is significant until it has 
been colored by one or more of the senses . . . The sense 
appeal is essential — illustrative objects, imitative sounds, pic- 
tures, and dramatization are indispensable to reading instruc- 
tion." 

The professed aims of the several departments as stated in 
the course are as follows: 

Primary: (1) A well defined knowledge of the mechanics 
of reading and a ready application of them. (2) Power quickly 
and silently to extract thought from the printed page. (3) The 
art of reading aloud simple material, in a pleasing voice, with 
correct pronunciation, articulation, and enunciation, and with 
natural expression. It is further set forth that corollary to 
these aims are sense-training, voice culture, games and plays, 
imagination work, reasoning, and character-building. 

46 



The Intermediate Grades aim at (1) The perfecting of oral 
expression, (2) Acquiring knowledge, (3) Establishing correct 
habits of study, (4) Enlarging social consciousness, and (5) 
Pure literary study. 

These aims have been emphasized with the teaching corps 
for several years. The effect of these aims on the conscious- 
ness of the teaching corps has been carefully noted. The fol- 
lowing quotations are indicative of the reactions the various 
teachers have made from time to time. These remarks are not 
those especially framed for this survey but are notes from the 
supervisors' reports on the various teachers covering a two- 
year period. 

From Grade III: "A reading lesson has high value when 
it does any one of these things — when it enlarges the child's 
vocabulary, or develops powers of good expression, or stimu- 
lates the imagination, or promotes the recognition of literary 
merit, or projects a pure and wholesome influence over the 
reader." 

From Grade IV: "I consider the best tests of a reading 
lesson the interest manifested by the children, for it is only 
that in which they are interested that benefits them perma- 
nently." 

From Grade I: "Children love a story when it tells of 
things they like to do." 

From Grade II: "We like sunshine stories and sunshine 
thoughts; we believe in sunshiny lives and sunshiny faces." 

From Grade V-VI: "Reading should follow the line of the 
children's interests, but it should also follow their needs, and 
different children need different things. The child of the fifth 
and sixth grades is still dwelling with the mythical personages 
of early childhood, but is also becoming familiar with modern 
heroism and daring, adventure and romance, the wonders and 
excitement of travel and exploration. We should give him, 
then, the companionship of the great and the friendship of the 
tried and true to win him to their likeness." 

From Grade V: "King Arthur stories are good for girls as 
well as for boys. If you just knew it, there is many a knightly 
heart that beats under calico." 

From Grade II: "To be able to recognize and enjoy whole- 
some humor is not a small element in a child's education." 

From Grade IV: "A reading lesson is not a lesson in 
anatomy." 

From Grade VI: "We must not be thorough in the sense 
of being exhaustive. Clear up only those difficulties which 
stand in the way of an understanding of essential meanings." 

From Grade III: "Why should one read plainly when 
everyone else holds a similar book and is reading the same 
thing?" 

47 



From Grade VI: "We have tried to avoid the old idea of 
parrot-like reading — the lesson read aloud by different pupils 
again and again. Naturally a child's interest wanes when he 
hears the same thing read over and over, which he himself has 
studied." 

"Most readers, like good-natured cows, 
Keep browsing, and forever browse; 
If a fair flower comes in their way, 
They take it, too, nor ask 'What, pray?' 
Like other fodder it is food, 
And for the stomach just as good." 

One child in the third grade made the following interesting 
and illuminating impromptu comment — a comment suggesting 
that our pupils have a good deal of the spirit of all our school 
work. 

"I like best the 'Land of Lake and Mountain,' because it 
tells of the great high mountains and the big snow-fields of ice 
and snow, and the glaciers and avalanches and crevasses, and 
how the Swiss guides have spikes on the soles of their shoes, 
and of the mountain tunnels, and the swift little chamois, and 
of the Swiss people, and the queer cottages, and how the herds- 
men take the herds up the mountain side, and how a guide can 
walk on ground where there is hardly room enough to place 
your feet." — Kenneth Curlee. 

TEACHER'S PREPARATION OF LESSONS 

Supervisors have insisted on lesson preparation by 
teachers. Coming to class and trusting that sudden inspira- 
tion will solve the problems that arise has been frowned upon 
and specific requirements for lesson preparation have been re- 
peatedly emphasized. The following ,facts bearing out the 
point are noted during the progress of the survey: 

1. The results as shown by the standardized reading tests 
are decidedly superior in those rooms where the following points 
of lesson preparation were observed: 

1. The teacher shall familiarize herself with the sub- 
ject matter to be presented and shall anticipate as many as 
posible of the difficulties likely to arise in the presenta- 
tion. 

2. The teacher shall employ every available means 
and device for bringing the children into experiential con- 
tact with the reading vocabulary. 

3, The teacher shall keep in mind the past and pres- 
ent experience of the children and focus this experience 
upon the reading lesson. 

It is evident to those who have had supervisory experience 
that teachers will vary greatly in their willingness and ability 
to make effective principles like the above. Sterling's Corps 
was no exception. Most of them complied with principle I; 

48 



Principle 2 was seized upon by the more resourceful, and the 
results in these rooms would lead one to infer that this prin- 
ciple is fundamentally significant. All the results as deter- 
mined by the standardized tests show a close relation between 
this principle and satisfactory achievement. Uniformly those 
teachers excelling in their comprehension of this point excelled 
in achievement. 

Principle 3 was applied effectively by many of the corps, 
and ludicrously by others. A casual observer must have been 
impressed by the glaring ignorance many teachers have of child 
life and experience. Where "vast" is defined to children of the 
plains as "wide like the ocean" — "the sea is vast" or "gloomy 
shade" is illustrated by "dark and deep and gloomy like a dense 
forest" when no one of the class ever saw a score of trees to- 
gether, one feels a sense of baffled despair. So long as teachers 
manifest this unthinking, unimaginative attitude toward their 
task, children under their instruction are more or less to be 
pitied. Sterling has her share of teachers who teach one or 
more subjects with this flagrant disregard for the children. 
Fortunately many of the corps see the children first and the 
subject matter in perspective. 

CLASS ROOM PROCEDURE 

Time Allotment 
TABLE I 

Grade 3 4 5 6 7 8~ 

Class Variation 170 175 150 150 120 120 

in to to to to 

Allotted Time 338 192 175 160 

Class Variation 11 10.5 9 9 7 7 

in per cent of to to to 

Alloted Time 20 11.5 10.5 9.5 

Average Allotted Time 245 185 165 165 120 120 

Average in per cent of 

Alloted Time 15 11 10 10 7 7 

Per cent Allotted to Supervised 

Silent Reading 3 2.2 4 6 * * 

Per cent Alloted to Oral Reading 12 8.8 6 4 7 7 

Ratio of Allotments Silent 

Reading to Oral Reading y± % 2/3 3/2 

All allotments are expressed in minutes per week. 
Only time specifically allotted is accounted for. 
*Timhe not specifically alloted. 

By the foregoing table (I) it will be seen that the time reg- 
ularly allotted to reading in Sterling shows considerable uni- 
formity of practice in the upper and the lower grades, but in 
the different classes of the intermediate grades ther ■» is a wide 
variation, particularly so in Grade III where the variation is a 
hundred per cent, ranging from 170 minutes a week to twice 

49 



that amount, or 338 minutes a week. There were special condi- 
tions, however, that caused the allotment of one class to be 
lowered to 170 minutes, but as the next higher allotment in the 
same grade was only 225 minutes, it still gives a wide varia- 
tion. 

This is a problem to which the supervisory department 
should give its attention. On the face of the showing, it would 
seem that that department should have required here a greater 
degree of uniformity in practice, for if 300 minutes is necessary 
to secure competent results, then 200 minutes must be wholly 
inadequate and will tend to destroy all efficiency in the work; 
while, on the other hand, if 200 minutes may be made produc- 
tive of satisfactory results, then 300 minutes is a material 
waste of time. As a matter of fact, the supervisory department 
found the allotment of 170 minutes to be unsatisfactory, and 
the children who were allotted 338 minutes tested out some- 
what below those who were allotted only 225 minutes. In gen- 
eral, however, the lack of uniformity is upheld by that depart- 
ment on two counts: first, that conditions vary in different 
classes and different conditions require different time allot- 
ments; second, that the body of knowledge on the subject of 
time allotments is neither sufficiently definite nor sufficiently 
tested to warrant an assumption in favor of any one particular 
allotment, but that there is necessary a more intimate and 
exact knowledge of the subject in its various relations before 
it will be possible with any degree of certainty to say just what 
allotment is the proper one. Such knowledge can be derived 
only through repeated experiments. The variations in allot- 
ment, therefore, become important conditions contributing to 
progress. 

In the routine of class room practice uniformity is apparent 
throughout the grades. Some slight variations in the allotted 
time ratio between silent reading and oral reading is noted as 
one ascends through the grades. Oral reading is predominant 
in the classes of grade four and silent reading in those of grade 
six. 

The teachers seem convinced that reading is a matter of 
practice and the pupils read a great deal. Little extraneous 
matter is injected into the reading lesson. Phonics, word drills, 
and vocabulary lessons are regularly gwen at a separate time. 
Dissected and analyzed reading are at a minimum. As one 
teacher puts it, "Difficult words, allusions, contractions, and 
so on have no literary quality which would make them belong 
to reading." Most of the teachers are willing to concede that 
the dictionary is not a reading book. The thought of the above 
teacher should become a leading influence in the development 
of the reading course when she continues and quotes approv- 
ingly. "Beware the dictionary in reading; let it be a last re- 
sort. Encourage the habit of getting at the meaning of a word 

50 



through the context, which is far more important than diction- 
ary, hunting. Few words have fixed values; they take their 
complexions from the company they are in." 

EQUIPMENT 

All text books for the use of pupils in the Sterling Public 
Schools are furnished by the Board of Education. Text book 
bills are ordinarily a shock to committees and Boards of Edu- 
cation. While the free text book policy is first received with 
loud acclaim by parents and children, as the bills come in for 
the texts necessary, this enthusiasm wanes and inquiries are 
made as to possible curtailment of expenses. 

The success of any method of reading instruction is condi- 
tional upon an adequate amount of suitable reading matter. 
The educational maxim that children learn to do by doing is no 
less true in reading than in other fields; and here, as elsewhere, 
practice makes the master. To a generation trained in the use 
of one reading book a year, in other words, to the great ma- 
jority of the general public as now constituted, an adequate 
supply of reading material will doubtless seem prodigality, if 
not waste. Unless school boards take this feeling somewhat 
into account, they are likely to fall under the displeasure of the 
public, particularly so if there is a rise in the tax-rate. Accord- 
ingly, it is well nigh universal for the requisitions to exceed the 
funds, and a just balance is attempted through an apportion- 
ment of the moneys to the various items in the budget. Nat- 
urally the reading texts are about the first thing to receive 
curtailment. These books really are expensive and considera- 
tions of economy require that their number be limited to the 
minimum compatible with reasonably efficient work. The prob- 
lem, then, becomes how to get the most reading out of a given 
number of books. This is an especially acute problem in Sterl- 
ing where the district furnishes all books and supplies to the 
children free of cost, so that the annual outlay of the Board on 
this account is a matter of considerable consequence. The prob- 
lem can be solved only by keeping each book a long time in use, 
that is, by having each book serve more than one child. 

With this end in view the Superintendent at the begin- 
ning of the current school year worked out and inaugurated a 
system whereby texts are collected in a Central Store Room 
and put in charge of a librarian whose duty it is to check them 
out to, and call them in from, the several teachers. The books 
are allotted by the Supervisor of Methods to the various classes 
and divisions for a specified time, during which time classes are 
expected to cover approximately a certain designated amount 
of work. At the expiration of the period the books are recalled 
and a new allotment is made. 

The Central Store Room plan has reacted chiefly in four 
ways. (1) In Grades I to VI, each book has served from three 
to sixteen pupils, depending on the grade, the smallest number 

51 



being served in the highest grade. (2) Dead stock has been 
eliminated and idle stock reduced to a minimum. (3) Each 
class has been provided a larger amount of reading-book ma- 
terial than could have been otherwise furnished because of the 
prohibitive cost. (4) The exchange of books at fixed intervals, 
requiring, as it did, a certain degre of standardization in the 
amount of time consumed to cover a given quantity of reading 
matter, necessitated among the several teachers of the same 
grade a conferring upon and a comparison of their work which 
resulted not only in an enlarged understanding of the subject 
but also induced an element of emulation in the teaching that 
made distinctly for progress. 

MATERIALS CLASSIFIED 

Under the Central Store Room plan the following titles 
with the number of copies of each were available for a reason- 
able period of time to each of the several classes of the ele- 
mentary grades. 



GRADE I 



Primers 



First Readers 



Aldine 



165 Aldine 83 



Beacon 35 Beacon 30 

Blodgett 29 Blodgett 30 



Brownie 44 

Easy Road 24 

Heath 48 

Hiawatha 59 

Merrill 36 

Rational 20 

Silver-Burdett 16 

Story 68 

Story Hour 6 



Brooks 30 

Circus 15 

Cyr 26 

Graded Literature 30 

Heath 60 

Language 23 

Merrill 64 

New Education 38 

Rational 11 

Silver-Burdett 83 

Story Hour 67 

Thought 48 



GRADE II 



Second Readers 



Baker & Carpenter...; 15 

Baldwin 20 

Baldwin & Bender 42 

Brooks 56 

Circus 22 

Graded Literature 31 

Haliburton 39 

Heath 74 

Language 16 

Merrill VI 

Rational 11 

Silver-Burdett 67 

Story Hour 69 



Other Titles 

Alan's Jungle Story 10 

Bunny Boy 93 

Grizzly Bear Stories 6 

Jack and the Beanstalk 63 

Story of Joseph 47 

Story of Two Little Rabbits 46 

Tale of Bunny Cotton Tail 55 



52 



GRADE III 



Third Readers 

Baldwin & Bender 69 

Brooks 15 

Davis-Julien I 24 

Davis-Julian II 24 

Graded Literature 50 

Haliburton 40 

Heath 38 

Jones by Grades 601 

Merrill 

Silver-Burdett 96 

Story Hour 40 



Other Grades 

AEsop's Fables 45 

Child's Garden of Verse 46 

Indian Children's Tales 43 

Robinson Crusoe 22 

Stories from Anderson 23 



GRADE IV 



Fourth Readers 

Brooks 89 

Davis-Julien I 24 

Davis-Julien II 24 

Graded Literature 21 

Jones by Grades 43 

Merrill 60 

Searson & Martin 86 

Silver-Burdett 81 



Other Titles 

Aladdin 46 

Farmer and His Friends 18 

Fifty Famous Stories 47 

Our Pilgrim Forefathers 43 

Stories of Great Americans 80 



GRADE V 



Fifth Readers 



Brooks 44 

Cyr 21 

Davis-Julien I 25 

Davis-Julien II 25 

Merrill 60 

Searson & Martin 40 



Other Titles 



Children's Hour 21 

Diggers in the Earth 17 

King of the Golden River 45 

Little Lame Prince 52 

Makers of Many Things M 

Miraculous Pitcher 58 

Nurnberg Stove 47 

Old Stories of the East 56 

Pied Piper 36 

Robin Hood 49 

Selections from Hiawatha 49 

Stories of Our Country 48 

Travelers and Traveling 17 

Young American 34 



GRADE VI 



Sixth Readers 



Jones by Grades 47 

Merill 48 

Searson & Martin 110 



Other Titles 



A Dog of Flanders 48 

Krag and Johnny Bear 48 

Lobo, Rag and Vixen 46 

Robinson Crusoe 15 

Story of the Greek People 81 

Story of the Roman People 91 

Tappan's England 39 



GRADES VII and VIII 

Enoch Arden 36 Shakespeare's Julius Caesar 40 

Goldsmith's Deserted Village ... 33 Shakespeare's Merchant of Ven- 

Jones' Fifth Reader 4.6 ice 34 

Kingsley's Heroes 17 Silas Marner 146 

Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare 32 Snow Bound 20 

Literary Studies 57 Snow Image 46 

Legend of Sleepy Hollow 54 Stories from Dickens 34 

Longfellow's Evangeline 2'J Studies in Reading VII 107 

Longfellow's Miles Standish... 38 Studies in Reading VIII 72 

Longfellow's Poems — Selected.. 33 Tom Brown's School Days 57 

Quentin Durward 47 Vision if Sir Launf al 39 

Schiller's William Tell 50 

BASIS OF CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIALS 

In the arranging of the reading texts by grades as here 
shown, the grouping of titles was not claimed to be an ideal 
one, nor even the best one that could be made under the circum- 
stances. It was designed merely to be a reasonable grouping 
made for the purpose of practical administration. 

We gravely question the suitability of some of this ma- 
terial, particularly in the upper grades. Titles sucn as Enoch 
Arden, William Tell, and Silas Marner, for example, have little 
place in the elementary schools. 

The accompanying Table II shows the maximum and mini- 
mum number of pages read in the several classes of the first 
six grades during the year ending June 1, 1917. It includes the 
prepared reading, the sight reading, and the supervised or 
tested silent reading, but takes no account of library books, un- 
tested reading, or reading done in the preparation of other sub- 
jects. As far as our investigations go the amount of material 
read in Sterling is much greater than that of the average school 
system. The following table shows the amount read by grades: 

TABLE II 



Class of Grade 


I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 




1750 

to 

2600 


1450 

to 

3000 


1500 

to 

3900 


1550 
to 

2850 


1200 

to 

1300 


1600 

to 

1700 



It will be observed from Table II that different classes of 
the same grade show quite generally, a material variation in 
the amount of subject matter covered. This was naturally to 
be expected for a number of reasons, the more notable among 
which are variations in class ability, in class attendance, in 
teaching abilty, and in the individual interpretation of aims and 
the divergent ideals and methods of the various teachers. Of 
these several reasons, the last mentioned is probably the chief 
contributing cause of the variations observed. An examina- 
tion of Table V shows a similar variation in the ahcievement 

54 



and in the growth of different classes of the same grade. The 
same thing is observed in the silent reading. (See Tables IX 
and X.) If these variations all be chiefly due to the same cause, 
the matter of divergent practice is plainly a problem to which 
the supervisory department should direct its attention. 

It has been the rule for the supervisory department to al- 
low the utmost freedom in method and procedure, and there is 
no doubt a high degree of wisdom in the policy of permitting 
to each teacher a wide latitude for the working out of her own 
individuality. But all practice is not equally good, and it is 
the office of the supervisory department to ascertain which is 
most efficacious and to institute that which is found to be pro- 
ductive of the best results. 

The survey of achievement in the various grades indicates, 
in general, that efficiency in reading is closely correlated with 
the amount of practice given on material easily within the com- 
prehension of the child, in view of which finding the super- 
visory department should exercise a more detailed control over 
the subject matter of instruction by prescribing within much 
narrower limits the kind of matter to be read and the amount 
of material to be covered in each grade. 

Efficiency in reading is a difficult thing to measure since 
no sure way has yet been found of determining absolutely the 
quality of comprehension. But no sure way has yet been found 
of determining absolutely the pressure of a sunbeam, or the dis- 
tance to one of the stars, yet these things are measured, and 
calculations based upon the results confidently in so far as the 
results are obtained through what appear to be rational meth- 
ods of estimation in which the element of guessing is confined 
to reasonably narrow limits. That measurements of reading 
ability and achievement are not absolute does not invalidate 
them as data out of which to frame a working hypothesis; it 
only calls attention to the desirability of correcting and re- 
fining them so that the margin of error may be thereby reduced. 
Up to the present time the most serious attempt at refining 
these measurements by eliminating obvious sources of error is 
the standardized test. 

The three thousand test sheets are standardized reading 
sheets, and the test results mentioned throughout the course of 
this study and tabulated in its various tables are data derived 
from using the following standardized sheets in an attempt to 
measure the efficiency of the children in reading, and, by im- 
plication, the efficiency of the teaching process. 



■:• 5 



STANDARDIZED READING PARAGRAPHS 
William S. Gray 

School Teacher. Grade 

Pupil Nationality Grade 

1 
A boy had a dog. 
The dog ran into the woods. 
The boy ran after the dog. 
He wanted the dog to go home. 
But the dog would not go home. 
The little boy said, 
"I cannot go home without my dog." 
Then the boy began to cry. 

2 
Once there was a little pig, 
He lived with his mother in a pen. 
One day he saw his four feet. 
"Mother," he said, "what can I do with my feet?" 
His mother said, "You can run with them." 
So the little pig ran round and round the pen. 

3 

Once there were a cat and a mouse. They lived in the 
same house. The cat bit off the mouse's tail. "Pray, puss," 
said the mouse, "give me my long tail again." 

"No," said the cat, "I will not give you your tail till you 
bring me some milk." 

4 
Once there lived a king and queen in a large palace. But 
the king and queen were not happy. There were no little chil- 
dren in the house or garden. One day they found a poor little 
boy and girl at their door. They took them into the beautiful 
palace and made them their own. The king and queen were 
then happy. 

5 

One of the most interesting birds which ever lived in my 
bird-room was a blue-jay named Jackie. He was full of busi- 
ness from morning till night, scarcely ever still. He had been 
stolen from a nest long before he could fly, and he had been 
reared in a house long before he had been given to me as a pet. 

6 

The part of farming enjoyed most by a boy is the making 
of maple sugar. It is better than blackberrying and almost as 
good as fishing. One reason why a boy likes this work is that 
someone else does most of it. It is a sort of work in which he 
can appear to be very industrious and yet do but little. 

56 



7 
It was one of those wonderful evenings such as are found 
only in this magnificent region. The sun had sunk behind the 
mountains, but it was still light. The pretty, twilight glow em- 
braced a third of the sky, and against its brilliancy stood the 
dull white masses of the mountains in evident contrast. 

8 
The crown and glory of a useful life is character. It is the 
noblest possession of man. It forms a rank in itself, an estate 
in the general good will, dignifying every station and exalting 
every position in society. It exercises a greater power than 
wealth, and is a valuable means of securing honor. 

9 

He was approximately six feet tall and his body was well 
proportioned. His complexion inclined to the florid: his eyes 
were blue and remarkably far apart. A profusion of hair cov- 
ered the forehead. He was scrupulously neat in his appear- 
ance; and, although he habitually left his tent early, he was 
well dressed. 

10 

Responding to the impulse of habit Josephus spoke as of 
old. The others listened attentively but in grim and contempt- 
uous silence. He spoke at length, continuously, persistently, 
and ingratiatingly. Finally exhausted through loss of strength 
he hesitated. As always happens in such exigencies he was 
lost. 

11 

The attractions of the American prairies as well as of the 
alluvial deposits of Egypt have been overcome by the azure 
skies of Italy and the antiquities of Roman architecture. My 
delight in the antique and my fondness for architectural and 
archaeological studies verges onto a fanaticism. 

12 

The hypotheses concerning physical phenomena formu- 
lated by the early philosophers proved to be inconsistent and 
in general not universally applicable. Before relatively ac- 
curate principles could be established, physicists, mathema- 
ticians, and statisticians had to combine forces and work 
arduously. 

A copy of the test is printed that patrons may understand 
the character of the material and the essential features of the 
test. Each child comes before the examiner and as soon as the 
nervousness is over and the child feels ready to work a copy of 
this test is given to the child and he is asked to read the para- 
graphs one after another. The examiner marks all mistakes 
and with a stop watch notes the time for each paragraph. The 

57 



score is based on the two results. To score perfectly a child 
must read the paragraph within a given time and without more 
than a specified number of errors. The requirements are more 
exacting for each succeeding grade. 

HOW TESTS WERE GIVEN 

In Sterling, the tests in oral reading were given by a spe- 
cial examiner who had taken her Master's degree at Denver 
University, an experienced teacher especially trained along the 
line of educational measurements and eminently qualified in 
all respects for the work which she performed. The children 
under test were not permitted to glance ahead in their reading, 
but the successive paragraphs were kept covered until it was 
time for them to be read. Stop-watches were used to do the 
timing. Every child in school was tested, and all scores were 
included in making the computations. For instance, the spring 
report of one class in Grade I include fifteen children who 
scored zero. In justice it should be noted that this class, as 
well as others, suffered severely from an epidemic of children's 
diseases that raged through the city for a considerable portion 
of the year. 

On the W. S. Gray Standardized Reading Paragraphs the 
Sterling scores compared with the Standard are given in Table 
IV. The Class Variation through the first six grades is shown 
in Table V, and the Individual Variation through the same 
grade in Table VI. 

TABLE IV 
Gray Oral Reading Test Sterling and Standard. 

~ ~T~ II HI IV V VI VII VIII 

Standard Score— Oct 3.4 22,5 38.9 41.7 42.7 43.7 44.3 42.7 

Sterling Score— Oct 21.1 35.5 38.6 25.3 29.3 

Standard Score— April 26 39 44.7 46 47 48 46.5 47 

Sterling Score— April. 28.5 42.3 46 45 32.8 37.7 32.7 30 

Standard Growth 22.6 I(U> O 4li O IZ 2J2 il 

Sterling Growth 21.2 10.5 6.2 7.5 8.4 

Sterling — April 10, 1917 x~ x x x x x x x 

Score above Standard 2.5 3.3 1.3 

Score below Standard ... 1.0 14.2 10.3 13.8 17.9 

Growth above Standard 2.5 4.7 4?7 O O O ~. TTT 

Growth below Standard 

TABLE V 
Gray Oral Reading: Class Variation. 

Grade I II III 

April 10 Scor Grow Scor Grow Scor Grow 

Standard 26 26 39 16.5 44.7 5.8 

Class Z 17.1 17.1 39.9 22.5 40.4 4.4 

Class Y 25 25 40.1 21.1 46.3 12.9 

Class X 34 34 41 17 47.6 11.8 

Class W 37.8 37.8 48 26 50.1 13.1 

58 



Grade 



TABLE V— Continued. 
Gray Oral Reading: Class Variation. 

IV V 



VI 



April 10 



Scor Grow Scor Grow Scor Grow 





46 


Class Z 


42 


Class Y 


45.3 


Class X 


47.3 







4.3 


47 


4.3 


48 


4.3 


4 


32.4 


4.4 


36 


4.1 


6.6 


33.2 


10.5 


39.4 


12.7 


8.1 


• • • 


... 


• . • 


... 



♦Growths are from October to April, except Grade I, which is from 
September to April. 

TABLE VI 
Gray Oral Reading Tests show individual variation in vari- 
ous grades. Below are tabulated scores (April, 1917, Tests) of 
five pupils testing highest and five pupils testing lowest in 
each of the first six grades. 





1 






II 




III 




IV 




V 


VI 




Xi co 




xi co 


!> m 


Xi co 




xi co 


£,2 


xi co 


*£ 


"8.5 


> m 
£••3 




oar3 


bjoru 


>^ 


WJ.7J 


&0.7J 


oc: EJ 




£ ft 




S S 1 


h-1 3 


X 3 




££ 




£& 




a g. 






loOh ' 


10 On 


\aSU 


xa Oh 


10 O-i 


uoOh 


LO Oh 


io Oh 


.oOn 


U5 Oh 


U5 Oh 


lo Oh 


Five pupils 






















designated AI68.7 1 
i 


58.7 





70 


21.2 


67.5 


18.7 


58.7 


5 


58.7 


11.2 


B|68.7| 


56.2 





65 


23.7| 


67.5 


20 


52.5 


6.2 


57.5 


16.2 


C 


68.7 





56.2 





62.5 


23.7 


66.2 


21.2 


51.2 


7.5 


56.2 


17.5 


D 


67.5 





55 





58.7 


30 


66.2 


22.5 


50 


10 


55 


17.5 


EI66.2 





55 





58.7 


31.2 


65 


27.5 


48.7 


11.2 


55 


18.7 


Av. score... 1 68 





56.2 





63 


26 


66.5 


1 22 


52.2 


8 


56.5 


16.2 


Class score |28.5 


28.5 


|42.3 


42.3 


46 


46 


45 


45 


32.8 


32.8 


37.7 


37.7 


Standard | 






















score |26 |26 "(39 


39 


44.7 


44.7 


46 | 46 | 47 


47 


48 


48 



For example, in Grade I the five pupils testing highest in 
this grade averaged GS. The class averaged 28.5. Th<- standard 
score for this grade, 26. In the same grade the five pupils 
testing lowest in this grade averaged 0. That is five of them 
couldn't read at all after a year of effort. Note the olass score 
was 28.5, and the standard score 26. The comparison suggested 
above is significant, especially in the Third Grade. It is also 
significant that the gain in reading ability is greatest in the 
Third Grade while the variation between highest and lowest 
individuals, while it is wide at all grades, is least at this point. 

CONCLUSIONS BASED ON TESTS 
The foregoing Table VI is a tabular epitome of the salient 
facts of this study. Its material more than any other has com- 
manded the attention of teachers throughout the system and 
has become subject of their most serious thought. A num- 
ber of interpretations and analyses of the facts of this table 
have been submitted to the supervisory department, from which 

59 



the following is selected as meriting careful consideration, and, 
further, because the supervisory department is not in accord 
with certain conclusions implied therein. 

This teacher says, "I was particularly interested in know- 
ing whether a year's work in reading would give practically 
uniform growth to the three classes of readers — poor, average, 
and superior — as graded by the fall test — or show with which 
class the greatest growth was made during the year. THE RE- 
SULTS OF THE ORAL TESTS REVEAL IT TO BE 
GREATLY IN FAVOR OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS GRAD- 
ING LOW IN THE FALL READING." 

The results of the silent tests show a trifle more uniform 
growth than do the oral. The ten individuals making the great- 
est gain are pupils who scored five above and five below stand- 
ard at the fall reading; and the five who scored above 
standard make an aggregate gain of 38.7 points, against an ag- 
gregate of 38.2 points for the five who scored below. But the 
five making the least gain in the room are ones who graded 
above standard to begin with. The medium gains are two 
whose scores in the fall were above standard and four whose 
scores were below." 

"Of the ten greatest gains in the oral test, five (and the 
five highest), were made by individuals »who graded below 
standard — from one to twenty points — in the fall reading; 
while the other five graded from one to ten points above stand- 
ard, but with an aggregate gain of only 57 points for the latter, 
as against 106 points for the first five. The two individuals 
making the least gain are pupils who made the two highest 
scores in the fall test. The medium gains are two whose scores 
in the fall reading were above standard and four whose scores 
were below." 

"This proof of the decidedly greater advancement on the 
part of the poor reader brings one to serious consideration as 
to the cause. Is the poor class receiving undue attention? Is 
my room just the thing that I seriously object to its being — 
a leveling ground? IS THE BRIGHT PUPIL— THE SU- 
PERIOR READER IN THIS CASE— PRACTICALLY AT A 
STANDSTILL IN THE THIRD GRADE, WHILE HE WAITS 
FOR OTHERS TO CLIMB SLOWLY UP TOWARD THE 
HEIGHTS HE HAS ALREADY ATTAINED— it matters not 
how, whether by toilsome struggle or a natural gift? Can't 
I do something for the more advanced reader, as well as for the 
inferior one? Can't my methods, my material, or something, 
be such that these superior pupils can have as profitable a 
year's work in reading as do the others?" 

The opinion, that the whole Elementary School system as 
commonly organized is a crime against the superior pupil, 
seems warranted; but in this particular instance it is possible 
that the "leveling ground" feature complained of develops logi- 

60 



cally and inevitably from the nature of the subject. It is evi- 
dent that there is need for a bit of constructive school manage- 
ment to remedy the conditions complained of by this teacher. 
The following conclusions may help with this task. They are 
set forth with little defense of argument other than that 
apparent upon the face of our returns: 

1. That numerous children completely master the formal 
subject of reading in Grade I. 

2. That the majority of children mastei it in Grade II. 

3. That there are children slow in development but prob- 
ably normal otherwise, in number sufficient to warrant consid- 
eration, who do not acquire a mastery of the subject until the 
completion of Grade III. (Incidentally, it may be seen in Table 
VI that the Standard Score for Grade I and the average of the 
five low scores of Grade III are identical.) 

4. That after Grade III is past, reading, in the commonly 
accepted interpretation of the subject, is not worth its cost in 
Sterling, or in any other place. 

5. That when Grade IV is past, reading is dead. Not only 
that, but decay has already begun to set in as may be seen 
from the numerous children who here start to retrogress. From 
this point on it will be noted that the superior reader not only 
ceases to make a superior advance, but his advance is even be- 
low the mediocre advance of his classmates when averaged 
together as a whole. 

6. That reading in its commonly accepted interpretation 
has little place in Grades IV and V. 

7. That the stirrings of a new life in the child, accompany- 
ing the stage of early adolescence, may so react as to bring 
about a temporary resurrection of the subject in Grade VI, es- 
pecially in the case of those children who have up to this time 
failed in its mastery. (Note also Tables XI and XII.) 

We believe on the face of the tabulations of the materials 
covered, and, likewise, of the test results, reading — both oral 
and silent — reaches its culmination in Grade III. This is prob- 
ably in accord with the facts of mastery. As a formal study 
it has evidently been mastered by the great majority of chil- 
dren when they reach the fourth year of school. Commonly, 
the mastery is achieved during the second year, so that we 
find second graders reading whatever material is within their 
comprehension with as much facility as eighth graders or 
adults. Ordinarily, however, it does not seem to attract much 
attention either from parents or from teachers, when children 
thus acquire facility in reading at an early age. Very few of 
those who are most interested grasp the significance of it, and 
it is the rule for facility in silent reading to be positively de- 
precated. The belief is almost universally accepted that the 
rapid silent readers do not get what they read, and the accom- 
plishment is therefore an undesirable one. The typical attitude 

61 



is that which was indicated by, the feeling of a first grade 
teacher who was much distressed one morning when a little 
fellow told her that he had read through the book which she 
had given him to take home the evening before. She was not 
only skeptical of his report but seemed eager to cherish a hope 
that it was untrue. 

Nevertheless, a careful examination of some three thou- 
sand test sheets wherewith the reading efficiency of the Ster- 
ling children was tested brings out convincing evidence for the 
proposition that reading as a formal subject may be mastered 
very early in the grades. Moreover, these sheets also reveal 
that in the case of the great majority of children the facility 
with which they read comprehensible matter is not materially 
increased after they pass beyond the third or fourth year of the 
elementary school. And yet further, in certain cases where 
children have been put through the usual prolonged drill in 
the upper grades, there appears reason to believe that an ac- 
tual retrogression has taken place. It would seem, therefore, 
that the necessity for continuing reading as a formal subject 
of study ought not to exist beyond third or fourth grade, and 
that when such necessity does exist beyond these grades, it is 
largely indicative of a procedure that has failed to realize upon 
its opportunities. 

If there is the warrant of truth back of these seven propo- 
sitions that there appears to be on the face of the showing, 
the subject of reading is in urgent need of a thorough reorgan- 
ization not only in Sterling, but probably throughout the 
schools of the country. 

In the little red schoolhouse of our ancestors "readin" 
meant oral reading. ;While they were dimly conscious, no 
doubt, that there was such a process as silent reading it was 
certainly given little thought in the educational scheme. To- 
day we realize that our information is mostly gained from the 
printed page, from books, papers and magazines read silently. 
Silent reading is tremendously important. It lies at the heart 
of learning to study and is a prerequisite to progress in every 
branch of knowledge. It makes up almost exclusively the read- 
ing through life, and occupies a larger place in the life of the 
average individual than all the other subjects of the curricu- 
lum combined. 

Silent reading is probably capable of a development far 
beyond anything that can be shown anywhere in any kind of 
school. In nearly every school there are a few individual ex- 
amples of high efficiency, children who read with a high de- 
gree of rapidity and an excellent quality of comprehension. 
But these cases, being rare and isolated are without signifi- 
cance save that they indicate as entirely possible the achieving 
of an end greatly to be desired. They can in no wise be identi- 

62 



fied as a product of the school in which they are found, when 
that school does not even pretend to plan or point out the way 
of their attainment. How their efficiency was achieved no one 
knows. It was an accident, a mere chance. Few schools have 
in time past ever made provision in their courses of study for 
a systematic instruction and training in silent reading, and 
those children who acquire proficiency in it come upon the 
treasure as one, eating, might come upon a pearl in an oyster, 
unexpectedly, without effort, and incidental to another process 
— a process neither calculated nor fitted to achieve the end at- 
tained. 

In the Elementary schools of Sterling the subject of silent 
reading has recently undergone considerable reconstruction. 
The emphasis upon it has been vastly increased, particularly in 
the upper grades, where it may be said to have achieved the 
dignity of a separate subject with an importance superseding 
that of oral reading. 

In accordance with the evidence that points the advisabil- 
ity of beginning the study of silent reading very early in the 
child's school life, there was worked out and instituted in Ster- 
ling a plan whereby practice and instruction in the subject is 
given systematically throughout the graces, beginning with 
the first. In general the idea is to develop speed and compre- 
hension through practice under supervision. Each element is 
constantly tested — the first by limiting the time for the read- 
ing of a specified amount, and the second by questioning the 
child upon the content of the pages read. The second test is 
not complete without some kind of positive reaction on the 
part of the child, for ability merely to express the substance 
of the thought is very inadequate. 

The accompanying Table VII shows the amount of ma- 
terial covered under this plan by giving the maximum and min- 
imum number of pages read silently in the several classes of 
the first six grades during 180 days of the current year. One 
portion of this material was read silently and afterward re- 
read orally, which practice is commonly regarded as the "prep- 
aration" for oral reading. The other portion was read silently 
only and the child's comprehension tested by questions upon 
the content, or by requiring a reproduction or summary of 
what was read. Neither Table VII nor Table VIII takes into 
account library books, untested reading, or reading done in the 
preparation of other subjects. 



63 



TABLE VII: MATERIAL READ 





Pages read both 


Pages read only 


Total pages 


Grade 


silently and orally 


silently and orally 


read silenty 


I 


1500 to 2250 


100 300 


1650 to 2500 


II 


1200 to 2300 


50 450 


1300 to 2700 


III 


1050 to 2400 


300 1250 


2300 to 3550 


IV 


1000 to 2000 


400 600 


1450 to 2600 


V 


1000 to 2000 


400 600 


1450 to 2600 


V 


450 to 5550 


500 700 


1050 to 1150 


VI 


650 to 950 


500 .... 900 


1400 to 1550 



RESULTS OF TEST OF EFFICIENCY IN SILENT 

READING 

Efficiency in silent reading may perhaps be more nearly 
measured than in oral, since in silent reading one of the two 
elements most difficult of measurement — namely, the interpre- 
tative reaction of the reader to what is read — is not only more 
simple, but is far less prominent, being for the most part sup- 
pressed. Still the problem presents vast difficulties, as there 
is no absolute measure for comprehension. It is not wise, 
therefore, to regard the results of these tests with any consid- 
erable degree of finality. 

The particular tests selected for use in Sterling were the 
standardized sheets designed for the testing of silent reading 
by Dean Kelly of the School of Education, University of Kan- 
sas. The tests were given twice during the year, October and 
April, in Grades 3 to 8. The schools have derived a good deal 
of satisfaction from the results which are shown in Tables IX 
and X, compared with a standard established by the testing of 
from 4,000 to 6,000 other children in each of the several grades. 
Copies of the test for Grades 3, 4 and 5 are published to illus- 
trate their character. The tests for Grades 6, 7 and 8 are of 
similar character but more difficult. 



€4 



STATE NORMAL SCHOOL P«t 

EMPORIA, KANSAS Pupil's 

TEST I Score 

Bureau of Educational Measurements Here 

and Standards 

THE KANSAS SILENT READING TEST 

Devised by F. J. Kelly, 

For 

Grades 3, 4 and 5 

City . . . State Date 

Pupil's Name Age Grade 

School Teacher 



DIRECTIONS FOR GIVING THE TESTS 
After telling the children not to open the papers, ask the 
children on the front seats to distribute the papers, placing one 
upon the desk of each pupil in the class. Have each child fill in 
the blank space at the top of this page. Then make clear the 
following: 

INSTRUCTIONS TO BE READ BY TEACHER 
AND PUPILS TOGETHER 

This little five-minute test is given to see how quickly and 
accurately pupils can read silently. To show what sort of game 
it is, let us read this: 

Below are given the names of four animals. Draw a line 
around the name of each animal that is useful on the farm: 
Cow tiger rat wolf 

This exercise tells us to draw a line around the word, cow. 
No other answer is right. Even if a line is drawn UNDER the 
word cow, the exercise is wrong, and counts nothing. The game 
consists of a lot of just such exercises, so it is wise to study 
each exercise carefully enough to be sure that you know exactly 
what you are asked to do. The number of exercises which you 
can finish thus in five minutes will make your score, so do them 
as fast as you can, being sure to do them right. Stop at once 
when time is called. Do not open the papers until told, so that 
all may begin at the same time. 

The teacher should then be sure that each pupil has a good 
pencil or pen. Note the minute and second by the watch, and 
say, BEGIN. 

ALLOW EXACTLY FIVE MINUTES 

Answer no questions of the pupils which arise from not 
understanding what to do with any given exercise. 

When time is up say STOP and then collect the papers at 
once. 

65 



Value 
1.2 



No. 1 

I have red, green and yellow papers in my hand. 
If I place the red and green papers on the chair, 
which color do I still have in my hand? 



Value 
1.2 



No. 2 

Think of the thickness of the peelings of apples 
and oranges. Put a line around the name of the 
fruit having the thinner peeling. 



apples 



oranges 



Value 
1.4 



No. 3 

Three words are given below. One of them has 

been. left out of this sentence: I cannot the 

girl who has the flag. Draw a line around the 
word which is needed in the above sentence. 

red see come 



Value 
1.4 



No. 4 

There are seven boys and twelve girls in a 
room. If there are more boys than girls, write boys 
on the line below. If more girls than boys, write 
girls on the line below. 



Value 
1.6 



No. 5 

If you would rather have a dollar than a little 
stone, do not put a line under dollar, but if you 
would rather have five dollars than a pencil, put a 
line under stone. 



dollar 



stone 



Value 
1.7 



No. 6 

The first letter in the alphabet is "a." Below 
are some words containing the letter "a." Draw a 
line under one in which the first letter of the alpha- 
bet is found the greatest number of times. 

hat easy baby age alas manfully 



66 



Value 
1.8 



No. 7 

A child wrote these letters on the blackboard, 

b y a k. He then rubbed out one letter and put 

c in its place. He then had b y c k on 

the blackboard. What was the letter which he 

erased? 



No. 8 
Count the letters in each of the words written 
below. You will find that pumpkin has seven let- 
ters, and thanks has six letters. One of the words 
1.9 has five letters in it. If you can find the one hav- 

ing five letters, draw a line around it. 

breeze thanks yours pumpkin duck 



Value 
2.0 



No. 9 
Here are some names of things. Put a line 
around the name of the one which is most nearly 
round in every way like a ball. 



saucer 



teacup orange pear arm 



Value 
" 2.1 



Value 
2.2 



No. 10 
A recipe calls for milk, sugar, cornstarch and 
>ggs. I have milk, sugar and eggs. What must I 



get before I can use the recipe? 



No. 11 

We planted three trees in a row. The first one 
was nine feet tall and the last one was three feet 
shorter than the first one. The middle one was two 
feet taller than the last one. How tall was the 
middle one? 



Value 
2.2 



No. 12 

Below are three lines. If the middle line is the 
longest, put a cross after the last line. If the last 
line is the longest, put a cross after the first line. 
If the first line is the longest put a circle in front 
of the middle line. 



67 



Value 
3.1 



Value 
3.5 



Value 
4.8 



Value 
8.9 



No. 13 

Three men have to walk to a town ten miles 
away. Each man carries a load. The first carries 
25 pounds, the second 30 pounds, and the third 40 
pounds. The heavier the load the slower the man 
travels. In order that they, may arrive in town at 
the same time, which man must start first? 



No. 14 

My house faces the street. If a boy passes my 
house going to school in the morning, walking 
toward the rising sun, with my house on his right 
hand, which direction does my house face? 



No. 15 

Fred has eight marbles. Mary said to him: "If 
you will give me four of your marbles, I will have 
three times as many as you will then have." How 
many marbles do they both have together? 



No. 16 

If in the following words e comes right 
after a more times than e comes just after 
i, ■ then put a line under each word containing an 
i, but if 
than 



e and an i, but if e comes just before a 
more often than right after i, then put a line 
under each word containing an a and an e. 



receive feather teacher believe 



68 



In Table IX which appears below it will be noted that 
Sterling has scored far above the expected standard. This 
means, that as compared to other school systems in the coun- 
try Sterling has made an enviable record in silent reading. 

TABLE IX 
Kelly Silent Reading Tests — Sterling and Standard Scores. 

Ill 



Grade 
Standard — June 5.0 



~9X 



13.4 



VI 
13.8" 



VII 



VIII 
T^2 



Sterling ...... x x x x 

April Score 8.0 13.3 17.4 21.2 

Class Variation 6.8 11.3 16.3 21,0 

to to to to 

9.3 14.3 18.4 21,3 

Above Standard— Years 2/3 1 2 1/3 2% 



x 

21,1 



1% 



x 

23.8 



iy 2 



GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF TABLE IX 

Kelly Silent Reading Tests: Sterling and Standard 



III 



5.0 



IV 



8.0 I 9.4 



13.3 



13.4 



VI 



17.4 I 13 



VII 



21.2 j 16.5 



21.1 



VIII 



19.2 



23.8 



* This column represents Sterling. 

69 



Note in Table IX that the Standard scores are for June, 
the Sterling scores for April; and, in Table X, that the Stand- 
ard growths are for a year, while the Sterling growths are onlj 
from October to April. 

TABLE x 
Kelly Silent Reading Tests — Sterling and Standard Growths. 

"Grade 3 4 5 6 7 8 

Standard Year 4A 4j() ~QA 2/7 2J 

Sterling Growth x x x x' x x 

October to April 4.5 6.3 4.9 7.5 7.8 52 

Same Above Standard ? 1.9 0.9 7.1 5.1 2.5 

Per cent Above Standard ? 43.0 2.0 1875.0 188.0 82.0 

Class Variation 4.2 3.4 4.5 7.4 

to to to to 
5.1 8.3 5.2 7.6 

In silent reading as in oral there is a wide range of indi- 
vidual variation, and the indications, likewise, are that the sub- 
ject may be mastered very early in the grades. More than that 
— the great majority who fail to master it before reaching 
Grade VII do not master it at all. The higher scores after 
passing Grade III are probably due to a higher quality of com- 
prehension rather than to an increase in ability to read. In 
Grade VIII, reading instruction, as such, is a one hundred per 
cent failure for the superior reader, and nearly a fifty per cent 
failure for the inferior one, as indicated by the characteristic 
scores of superior and inferior readers shown in Table XI. 
Grade III on the other hand, shows a material progress for 
both classes; but, after this grade is past, the teaching of read- 
ing as a formal subject seems to be a mere leveling process 
which reaches its culmination in Grade VI, where only about 
one half the pupils show any worthy gain, and of those who do 
make a material advancement, something like eighty per cent 
come from among the tail-enders. 

In Table XI are given the five highest and the five lowest 
individual scores made under the October tests in Grades III 
and VIII, and the scores of the same children again in April 
together with their gain or loss in the interim. In Grade III 
a hundred per cent of the children tabulated are making a 
worth-while progress as against only thirty, per cent in Grade 
VIII — and it is our belief that this thirty per cent would have 
made about the same showing had they been left entirely to 
their own devices. 



70 



TABLE XI. 

Progress of Superior and Inferior Silent Readers — Grades 3 and 8. 

Grades 3 8 

Kelly Tests 77 . . .Oct. Apr. Gain Oct. Apr. Gain 

Reader A 13.4 24.0 10.6 37.5 39.5 2.0 

Reader B 11.6 23.8 12.2 32.2 32.3 0.1 

Reader C 10.9 23.8 12.9 30.3 30.3 0.0 

Reader D 9.8 14.6 4.8 29.6 32.2 2.6 

Reader B 8.6 12.2 3.6 29.4 27.6 1.8 

Reader A 6.5 6.5 7.9 10.5 2.6 

Reader B 6.8 6.8 8.9 23.1 14.2 

Reader C 9.3 9.3 11.2 26.3 15.1 

Reader D -0.5 10.5 11.6 13.0 1.4 

Reader E 11.0 11.0 12.8 19.7 6.9 

Some idea of the leveling tendency that reaches its culmin- 
ation in Grade VI may be obtained from an examination of 
Table XII, in which are tabulated the ten highest and the ten 
lowest scores under the October tests, and the scores of the 
same children again in April, together with their gain or loss 
over the October showing and the decrease in the difference be- 
tween the pairs of corresponding high and low scores, which 
is, in other words, the degree of "leveling" expressed in terms 
of the reading score. 

TABLE XII. 

Silent Reading: "The Leveling" Grade 6. 



Oct. 


Score 


Apr. 


Score 


Gain 


Loss Level 


1 
High 


2 
Low 


3 
High 


4 
Low 


5 
High 


6 • 7 
Low 



25.8 3.9 24.0 8.1 1.8 4.2 6.0 

25.5 4.3 27.7 22.3 3.2 18.0 14 8 

24.3 4.7 23.9 13.2 0.4 8.5 8.9 

23.3 4.7 36.5 23.3 13.2 18.6 5.4 

24.3 5.7 26.3 13.1 2.0 7.4 5.4 

22.3 6.3 39.5 26.3 17.2 20.0 2.8 

22.2 6.5 19.9 15.4 2.3 8.9 11.2 

21.3 6.7 17.4 14.0 3.9 7.3 11.2 
20.1 7.2 26.3 15.4 6.2 8.2 2.0 
20.7 7.3 13.8 8.5 6.9 1.2 8 1 



To read Table XII remember that this table shows the Oc- 
tober and April scores of twenty pupils — the ten highest and 
the ten lowest in the October tests. In column 1 you have the 
ten high scores in October. In column 3 you have the April 
score of these same pupils. In column 5 you will see their gain 
or loss. Column 7 shows how much leveling (bringing down 
the high and bringing up the low) was done in this grade. 

Columns 2, 4, 6, and 7 show the same data for the ten chil- 
dren making the ten lowest scores in October. 

71 



The fact seems rather impressive that tests as divergent 
in nature as are those of Gray, in oral reading and Kelly in 
silent should with such a unanimity of results point, to identi- 
cal conclusions in regard to the place of reading in the curri- 
culum. Aside from the agreement in this matter of a common 
"reading period," however, there does not appear to be any 
very pronounced correlations between silent and oral reading. 
The conflict in principle and methods has already been men- 
tioned. As to mastery, it may be noted that ability to score 
high in one does not by any means carry an assurance of abilty 
to score high in the other. In fact, it is not at all unusual for 
the same child to rank high in one and low in the other. For 
example, in Grade VI twenty-five per cent of those who tested 
superior in oral reading, when taken together made an average 
score of 16.7 points in silent reading, or 4.5 points below the 
average score for the class; whereas, at the same time and un- 
der the same test, twenty-five per cent of those who scored 
poor in oral reading when taken together made an average 
score of 23.2 points in silent reading, or 2 points ABOVE the 
average for the class. Formerly, those in the second group 
were unjustly regarded as failures while those in the first were 
thought to be surpassingly efficient. A proper estimate of their 
work is arrived at only by taking into consideration both 
phases of the subject. 

And, for a perfect evaluation, there may be other phases 
to consider. Who knows what? Or whether such an evalua- 
tion be possible? For, after all, reading is more than recog- 
nition, or pronunciation, or vocabulary, fluency, kinetic reac- 
tion, or reproduction. It has spiritual and elusive qualities that 
arise from the vicarious contact with worth-while experiences 
and the manifold emotions of life. And who can tell when 
these qualities have been imparted? Or how it was done? Or 
set up a standard for the measuring of the doing of it? 

Such thoughts may well give us pause; but there is a re- 
verse side to them. The reverse side is this — that human ex- 
perience and emotion has its language, and it is a language as 
formal as the alphabet or the dictionary. As humans, we do 
not each make our own preferred noise when we see a new sight 
or experience a new sensation; we make a "standardized" noise. 
Human perceptions and emotions are standardized in their ex- 
pression, signifying that they have been gauged and measured 
many, many times. Thus, the things that we are pleased to 
term spiritual and elusive have, at least, periods of incarnation 
in a body that may be very definitely dealt with and appraised. 
This does not deny the spiritual and the elusive. It does not 
deprecate them. Let teachers strive after them with zeal and 
aspiration, for there is a value in the mere striving. But the 
fundamental values lie with other things that must be achieved, 
not merely striven after. It has been said that we cannot 

72 



measure appreciation; but when we measure comprehension, 
however, have we not measured the foundation of appreciation, 
for who can appreciate unless he comprehends? 



SPELLING 

Spelling in the Sterling Public Schools has passed through 
at least three periods during each of which a totally different 
policy has been maintained. The first period was one in which 
the child had a text book from which he studied his daily les- 
sons with little or no supervision from his teacher. The func- 
tion of the teacher was to assign lessons and pronounce words. 

This period passed over into one where the teacher selected 
the words, taught them to the pupils, and assumed entire re- 
sponsibility for the lesson. This period faded ingloriously 
away when teachers weary with well doing had gradually per- 
mitted spelling to sink to a relatively insignificant place in the 
curriculum. 

The third period is upon us and we are today using the 
text book as in the early period, but we are teaching the words 
with the care characteristic of the second period, and spelling 
is holding a place of first importance in our schools as is shown 
by the following facts: 

The course of study states, "The pupil should be taught to 
spell the words of his own vocabulary — the words actually 
used. To these words add those used in ordinary life," In the 
actual teaching practice, however, word lists are made up by 
the teachers in Grades I and II, while Grades III to VIII use 
a spelling book. 

In Grades III, IT, V and VI the work has been completely 
routinized since September 20, 1916, when a bulletin was issued 
by the supervisory department in which teachers were given de- 
tailed instructions as to time allotment, and the manner and 
order of presentation. This bulletin, with but one modifica- 
tion of any consequence, was followed closely throughout the re- 
mainder of the year. The time allotments and material cov- 
ered are shown in Table I. 

The common practice in the matter of time allotted on the 
school program to spelling is about seventy-five minutes per 
week; but the total amount of time actually spent upon the 
subject cannot be definitely stated because of a considerable 
portion of unallotted study time that is commonly devoted 
to it. 

The allotment of fifteen to twenty minutes a day in Ster- 
ling, as shown in Table I, includes the total time expended 
upon the subject in both recitation and study. Children were 
not permitted to study their words at any other time than dur- 

73 



ing the study-recitation period. The lesson was always writ- 
ten during the last five minutes of this period, and, usually 
corrected by the children in class, to be rechecked afterward 
by the teacher. 

TABLE I. "-* 

Sterling Time Allotments and Words S tudied. 

Time Allotted 

Grades 3 4 5 6 

Per lesson 15 to 20 15 to 20 20 20 

Per week 75 to 100 75 to 100 100 100 

New Words 

Per lesson 6 6 7 7 

Per Week 24 24 28 28 

Per year 850 850 1000 1000 

♦Review Words 

Per lesson to 6 to 6 to 7 7 

Per week 24 24 28 28 

Per month 96 96 112 112 

Per term 288 288 336 336 

*It will be observed that every fifth lesson is a review lesson, and 

that daily, weekly, monthly, and term reviews are all independent o£ 

each other. 

It will be seen by the foregoing table that Sterling re- 
quires that one lesson out of each week shall be a review les- 
son. This review lesson has been found to be well worth the 
time it takes; and the showing of teachers who make use of the 
review as compared to the results where the review is omitted 
justifies fully this review lesson, although it seems to cost a 
large proportion of the available time. 

We have not found it profitable to emphasize spelling un- 
til the latter half of the second school year. Indeed our 
perience seems to indicate that ''spelling ability" (if there is 
such a thing) does not develop before Grade VI. So far as we 
can determine up to this time children learn to spell special 
words largely by rote and no amount of phonics training or 
rules for spelling exercises any particular influence over the re- 
sults. In fact it seems almost as if in Grades IV to V there 
is more difficulty with the words that are spelled by rule. 

METHODS CAUSE VARIATION IN SPELLING RESULTS 

The same words given in column spelling and then repeated 
in sentences showed great discrepancies in the results. Classes 
that averaged over 95 per cent on words spelled in column, 
have made an average of less than 50 per cent on the same 
words the same day, when these words were repeated in sen- 
tences. Under one efficiency test where the words were given in 
dictated sentences, a surprising fact developed in regard to a 
Grade IV class that had stood head and shoulders above the 
others in its daily work of column spelling. This class not only 
failed to excel the others on the test, but its growth was only 
about half the normal growth of the grade. The matter is sig- 
nificant, and its application should not be lost to the situation. 

74 



It should be clearly, borne in mind that the FINAL END OF 
SPELLING IS WORDS WRITTEN IN SENTENCES OR PAR- 
AGRAPHS. 

ROUTINIZED METHODS SECURE THE BEST SPELLING 

RESULTS 

The individual variation shown by children under the 
routinized methods was decidedly less than it had been before 
the methods were routinized. In general, outside the differ- 
ences in mental capacity, the variations were not marked. 
There was a decided advantage in favor of the all-round bright 
children; but aside from this, neither previous training in 
phonics, nor extensive reading, nor home culture appeared ma- 
terially to affect the results. On the other hand, the routinized 
Grades V and VI vastly discounted the non-routinized Grades 
VII and VIII, as may be seen in Table II. Spelling received 
much less time and attention in the latter grades, however, 
which must be taken into account when considering the dif- 
ferences. 

The routinized presentation as prescribed in the bulletin 
before mentioned, and afterward slightly modified is as fol- 
lows: 

1. The teacher writes on the board in the presence of the 
class the first word, indicating syllables by breaks, not by 
dashes. 

2. The teacher pronounces the word distinctly as a whole, 
drills individuals and then the class. 

3. The teacher pronounces the word by syllables, making 
a distinct pause between syllables, drills, and then takes up 
the special features of the word. 

4. The teacher again pronounces the word distinctly as 
a whole, and the class repeats. 

5. Children close eyes and recall the image of the word. 

6. Children motorize with a pen or pencil, and then write 
the word, sometimes with eyes open, sometimes with eyes closed. 

7. Children compare what they have written with the 
text, and then write again. 

8. Each successive word is taken up in the same way, and 
at the end, the children review the visualization and motoriza- 
tion in silence. 

9. Children write the lesson as the teacher pronounces 
the words or dictates them in sentences. 

TABLE II. 

About six months after this routinized treatment went 
into effect in Grades III to VI, as before mentioned — that is 
in March, 1917 — the Courtis Standard Tests in Spelling were 
given through Grades II to VIII. These tests consist of dic- 

75 



tated sentences, timed. The results compared with the Courtis 
Standards are given in Table II. No Courtis score for March 
has jet been determined. The one used in our comparisons is 
found by taking a median between the January and the June 
score for each grade. For example Grade III scores 67 in Jan- 
uary and 74 in June, so we have assumed that it will score half 
way between these points in March— and so on with the other 
grades. In Table II the non-routinized Grades II, VII and 
VIII are placed adjoining each other. 

TABLE II. 

Spelling — Sterling and Standard — Also Class Variation. 

Grades 3 4 5 6 2 7 8 

*Courtis Standard 70.5 83T0 7T0 8T0 6T0 73l> 86~1) 

Sterling— Class Z 88.5 87^9 8L9 80 5570 5970 6871 

Sterling— Class Y 82.6 86.7 81.9 82.1 51.3 

Sterling— Class X 81.4 83.3 65.8 51.1 

Sterling— Class W 63.2 3jM> 

*Courtis Standards estimated for March, except that of Grade 2 which 
is the High Second standard. 



WRITING 

The course of study in writing for the elementary schools 
of Sterling is not of the conventional type in that the major 
portion of it is given over to the applied psychology of the sub- 
ject, while a very minor part is devoted to the aims, require- 
ments, prescribed methods, and standards of achievement. 

The course is divided into three parts — namely, Primary 
Writing, including Grades I and II; Transitional Writing, 
Grade III; and Upper Grade Writing, Grades IV to VIII. The 
Upper and Lower Grades have each a distinct kind of move- 
ment and separate ideals and standards of achievement. 

Writing receives a very moderate amount of supervision. 
No special teacher is employed, though a little departmental 
work is done. As a rule, each teacher teaches her own writing 
and administers the course as she understands it. In the main, 
the course is adhered to as closely as could reasonably be ex- 
pected under these conditons. 

In a pure habit study such as writing, where precise form 
is a governing factor, and where the measure of efficiency is 
the degree of facility with which precise form are reproduced, 
it is not to be expected, with all the individualities of writing 
which exist among teachers, that a perfect unity will be found 
throughout the classes of the several grades; but a certain 
part of the effort will in the nature of things go to nullify what 
was acquired at a previous time, and, in turn, will be nulified 
by the effort of the succeeding year. Sterling may be criticised 
for permitting an uneecssary amount of this wasteful practice. 

76 



Because of this fact — and a corollary to it, that most 
teachers have not acquired command of the technical and 
highly specialized forms and movements necessary to a mastery 
of the subject — better results would undoubtedly be obtained 
if the work were in charge of a special teacher. On the other 
hand, the daily influence of the regular teacher is far greater 
than that of a special teacher can hope to be, and if there is any 
marked divergence in the examples set by the two, even though 
in principle the practice of each may be equally good, it must 
necessarily constitute more or less of an impediment to prog- 
ress. At any rate, results in Sterling show that some unified 
policy properly supervised and insistently followed would 
greatly improve the writing. 

The Sterling course of study in writing is in reality merely 
the statement of a unified policy. Success in the subject un- 
der such a plan depends upon the capability of the several 
teachers, guided by a moderate supervision, the chief function 
of which shall be to unify the practice of the different teacners. 

Every teacher through the first six grades appeared to pos- 
sess a working knowledge of the essential elements of this pol- 
icy, and nearly every teacher appeared to be earnestly and in- 
telligently striving to carry out its principles in the course of 
her work. Those who failed did so chiefly because they were 
slow to apprehend the overshadowing influence of habit upon 
the process. 

The high points of the writing policy as stated in the course 
of study are briefly these: 

1. That good writing is entirely a matter of habit and 
must be judged exclusively from the habitual practice of the 
child as shown in the regular work. 

2. That the teacher must have clearly in mind the KIND 
of character the child is to produce. 

3. That Grades I and II are not concerned with the forma- 
tion of perfect letters. 

4. That writing does not lend itself to busy-work and 
must not be so used. 

5. That Grades I and II are to use no other than the full 
arm movement, and write large, chiefly upon the blackboard or 
upon rough paper with a large pencil held after the fashion of 
a blackboard crayon. 

6. That copies are of small use in themselves, the sight 
of the teacher writing presents to the child the clearest form 
of the process of writing. 

7. That the writing periods should be short, occupying 
from ten to twenty minutes. 

8. That movement drills should be neither prominent nor 
preliminary to writing. 

9. That in Grade III a transition be made from the free- 
arm to the muscular movement. 

77 



10. That the exact position of the pen or of the wrist is 
of little moment, but rythm is a factor of prime importance. 

11. That certain prescribed forms be used to the exclu- 
sion of all others. 

12. That marked improvement should begin in Grade IV, 
and a complete mastery of the writing process be reached in 
Grade VI. 

In accordance with point I, the transcribing of work is 
strictly forbidden in the first six grades — that is, children are 
not permitted to copy work over for the sake of securing a 
neater appearance or better arrangement. A "finished prod- 
uct" is demanded on the first attempt. Further, all writing is 
required to be done at a reasonable rate of speed. The effect 
of these regulations is beneficent in working an economy of 
time for the more careful and over-scrupulous children, and in 
a general developing of judgment and foresight in the arrange- 
ment of the work. The Note Books of Grades IV, V and VI 
are particularly well kept. 

In the enforcement of point II, referring to uniformity of 
characters, carelessness was noticed on the part of a few 
teachers. It was further noted that these teachers were those 
whose classes made the poorest scores under the efficiency 
tssts. 

Unusual skill in writing is not profitable. Training should 
continue as long as the average results recompense for the effort 
expended, and no longer. Sterling has ruled that Thorndike 
Quality 13, written at a speed of seventy letters a minute, is an 
acceptable standard for the completion of the course. In 
accordance with this ruling, during the latter part of the year 
those children who have attained the standard set are excused 
from further work in the penmanship class, while those who 
write below the median of the grade next beneath them are rele- 
gated to a lower grade for their penmanship instruction. Inci- 
dentally this plan exerts a decidedly stimulating influence upon 
the children. Under it, for example, one boy noted made more 
improvement in his writing during the first three weeks than he 
had made before in the preceding three years — from which it 
may justly inferred that all slow progress is not due to poor 
teaching. It is clear, however, that a good deal depends upon 
the way in which the subject is presented, for the results ob- 
tained from the same expenditure of time showed considerable 
variation in the different classes. Results and time together 
are the measure of economy. The time allotted to writing in 
Sterling seems somewhat excessive, and could probably be re- 
duced without detrimentally affecting the results. 

Table I shows the number of recitations per week and the 
time in minutes per week allotted to writing throughout Grades 

78 



I to VIII of the Sterling Elementary Schools. Table II shows 
the same grades scored on Form, Thorndike Scale, under a 
timed efficiency test, and compares Sterling with the average 
scores of 56 LARGE cities, beside other places well known in 
this locality. Table III shows the same grades again scored 
on speed in letters per minute, and makes comparison with the 
same places as Table II. The comparison between Sterling and 
56 large cities is also, in a measure, a comparison between the 
regular-teacher plan, before mentioned, and the special-writ- 
ing-teacher plan, since the large cities employ special teachers 
of writing while Sterling does not. 



TABLE I. 

Writing: Sterling Time Allotment. 

_ _ __ 

Grade All I II III IV V VI VII VIII 

Periods per week * 10 8 8 5~ 5 *2 *2 

Total minutes per week 77 75 90 105 105 100 100 40 40 

t'Same — Denver 100 

tCommon Practice 75 

* Periods not regular. Time approximate. 

t Prof. Frank N. Freeman in Denver Survey 1916. 



To read this table note that the various grades from I to 
VIII are indicated by the Roman numerals at the top of the 
columns. The first column gives the average number of min- 
utes per week devoted to penmanship in Sterling, Denver and 
other cities investigated. The figures under the respective 
grades give first the number of recitations per week and below 
that the number of minutes devoted to the subject. 



Writing Form- 


TABLE II. 

-Sterling and Other Cities — June Score. 




Grade 


Ill rv V VI VII 


VIIx 


56 Large Cities 


8.9 9.6 10.1 10.8 11.5 


11.9 



Denver 7.4 8.0 8.8 9.3 10.2 10.8 

Grand Junction 7.8 8.4 9.3 10.8 10.7 11.1 

Sterling 9.3 10.0 10.0 11.6 10.7 10.3 

Sterling~Variation 8— ll~8— 11 8—11 8—12 8—12 7—10 

Per cent Inside Limits 75 84 80 82 82 63 



To read this table remember that a standardized test pro- 
vides for scoring all the children in different school systems by 
the same scale, all having taken the same test under practically 
the same conditions. This table shows that in the VII grade 
for instance, 56 cities score an average of 11.5; Denver scored 
10.2; Grand Junction 10.7; Sterling 10.7. That pupils in the 

79 



seventh grade vary in score from score 8 to score 12 and that 
82 per cent of the pupils in the grade write within the standard 
scores determined for this grade. 

TABLE III. 

Writing Speed — Sterling and Other Cities — June Score. 

Grade III IV V Tl VII VII L 

56 Large Cities 43.8 51.2 59.1 62. 8 67.9 73.0 

Denver 36.0 5lT0 54U) 63T5 6670 69^0 

Sterling 41.0 51.7 61.6 70.7 80.4 88.8 

In reading this table please note that in the Fourth Grade, 
for instance, the average speed for writing in 56 cities is 51.2; 
Denver Fourth Grades write at a speed of 50; Sterling at a 
speed of 51.7. Other grades may be read in the same way. 

In the matter of Form, Sterling makes a very favorable 
showing through the first six grades, and the same may be said 
in regard to Speed through all the grades, as will be seen by 
consulting Tables II and III. 

In Table II it will be noted that Grade V shows no improve- 
ment over Grade IV when both are judged solely by the qual- 
ity of the product; but, when speed is taken into consideration, 
Grade V shows a distinct advance, producing 20 per cent more 
writing of just as good a quality in an equal period of time. 
Compare Tables II and III. 

This feature is still further developed in Grades VII and 
VIII, where a distinct retrogression from Grade VI is shown 
in Form while Speed continues to increase. The retrogression 
in itself indicates the sacrifice of Form to Speed. It is doubt- 
ful if writing lessons in Grades VII and VIII are worth while, 
provided the work of the first six grades has been efficiently 
done, for "we can count on some progress even when no drill is 
given" — probably as much as is here shown by the tests. 

The range of individual variation as shown in Table II is 
rather narrow — about eighty per cent of the children being 
grouped under four degrees of quality in the lower grades, and 
under five degrees in the upper grades. A noteworthy fact to 
be observed in this connection is that the quality limits are 
practically the same for eighty per cent of the children who 
constitute Grades III to VII, while the majority in Grade VIII 
write within a range lower than that within which is to be 
found the majority of the children of Grade III. Now, this is 
not equivalent to saying that Grade VIII does not write so well 
as Grade III, for form is not the only element by which writing 
should be judged. Speed, also, must be taken into considera- 
tion, and, in the matter of speed, Grade VIII more than doubles 
Grade III, which gives the former a much higher efficiency 
score when the two factors are combined. 

As children ascend through the' grades, the emphasis on 
Form gradually diminishes while that upon sped is correspond- 

80 



ingly increased; but, in the course of experimentation, Sterling 
found it unsatisfactory CONSCIOUSLY emphasize Speed be- 
fore reaching Grade VI. It made too acute the problem of ex- 
changing excess Speed for deficiencies in Form. 

Illegible writing, however rapidly it may be done, is value- 
less; and so, too, commercially, is perfect writing if done slowly 
and laboriously. But efficiency in writing is compounded 
of speed and form taken together, as excess of either 
one may within certain limits compensate for deficiencies in 
the other. The truest index to the writing achievement is a 
product of which the score of each element is a factor. Scores 
thus compounded for the several grades are given in Table IV 
where Sterling and 56 large cities are compared. 



TABLE IV. 

Efficiency in Writing: Sterling and 56 Large Cities. 


Grade 3 4 5 6 7 


8 


56 Large Cities 39.0 49.2 59.7 67.8 78.1 

Sterling 38.1 51.7 61.6 82.0 86.0 


86.9 
81.5 



THE WRITING INSTRUCTION IN STERLING IS EF- 
FICIENT AND THE RESULTS CREDITABLE 

No school can tell where it stands until it measures its 
work in some sort of survey. When it measures its work, it 
should judge methods of instruction by the results they pro- 
duce. Under the efficiency tests of this Writing Survey, the 
showing made by the first six grades of the Sterling elemen- 
tary schools is entirely creditable. The work of the two upper 
grades needs some readjustment. 

Writing: Combination or efficiency score. 

Graphic representation of Table IV. 

^Sterling. 

Ill etc., 56 large cities. 



81 






Writing: Combination or Ef- 
ficiency Score. Graphic 
Representation of Table IV. 
Ill Etc. 56 Large Cities. 











I 




* 




















* 








• 












38.1 


39.0 


51.7 


49.2 


61.6 


59.7 


• 


III 


• 


IV 


* 


V 



82.0 



67.8 



86.0 



78.1 



91.5 



86.9 



VI 



VII 



VII 



82 



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